Morning again, Dems.

I often wonder, why do Republicans hate America, the Constitution, and patriotism so much?

They will stand back and watch it destroyed without a word. They will DEFEND this administration and Republican party, while all the time KNOWING what they did to our country. They KNOW lies were told, yet they do not care.
They are complicit in the destruction of America, the beautiful. It is their fault we are where we are.

heading out to store. bbl, Dems.

I'm tired of talking about the criminal corruption of the Bush Administration and the Republican Party. They disgust me!....Later....

There's still time ti impeach the Chimpenfuhrer and Shotgun Dick for the good of America.

God Bless America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm tired of talking about the criminal corruption of the Bush Administration and the Republican Party.
==================================================

goodfie, it's conservatism - a rotten, greedy, un-American philosophy that favors fat cat rich elitists and uses the feeble minded by stirring up fake displays of patriotism, religious fervor and racial hatred. Conservatism is finished.

McCain on Mitt: He's in a tailspin. Mitt fights back with ads trashing McCain.
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 12/28/2007 08:52:00 AM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: Comments (30) · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!

The GOP campaign is getting really ugly in NH. Mitt Romney, clearly in some kind of panic mode, has been lashing out at all of them. Earlier this week, the Mittster was in New Hampshire trashing John McCain over taxes and immigration (because Mitt's so pure, you know).

McCain's response was pretty funny and pretty bitchy:

"I know something about tailspins, and it's pretty clear Mitt Romney is in one," McCain said in the statement. "It's disappointing that he would launch desperate, flailing, and false attacks in an attempt to maintain relevance. As the Union Leader said today, New Hampshire voters just aren't buying his act, and these latest attacks won't help him."

Mitt's one of those guys who always got what he wanted. And, he wants to be President now and can't believe lowlifes like McCain and Huckabee are getting in his way. He's fighting back against McCain with a new negative ad:

Mitt Romney takes GOP presidential rival John McCain to task on taxes and immigration in a new advertising push in New Hampshire as he seeks to fend off the Arizona senator's challenge.

"John McCain, an honorable man. But is he the right Republican for the future?" an announcer asks in the ad that starts airing Friday in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first presidential primary on Jan. 8. "McCain opposes repeal of the death tax. And voted against the Bush tax cuts - twice. McCain pushed to let every illegal immigrant stay here permanently. Even voted to allow illegals to collect Social Security."

Go Mitt. And, back to you Senator McCain.
================================================

GOP-PERS .... blah, blah, blah ....

Isn't amazing how these POS conservatives are so on fire to eliminate the "death tax" (estate tax by any other name). This is a tax that effects less than 1% of the wealthiest people in the nation. This proves what complete idiots their supporters are.

Oh this one is too funny:

Giuliani Campaign Official: Rudy Is The Only Candidate Who Can Chase “The Muslims”…”Back Into Their Caves”

Winning hearts and minds the world over…

John Deady, Co-Chair for New Hampshire’s Veterans for Rudy:

…(Rudy Giuliani has) the knowledge and judgment to attack one of the most difficult problems in current history. And that is the rise of the Muslims. And make no mistake about it, this hasn’t happened for a thousand years. These people are very, very dedicated. They’re also very smart, in their own way. And we need to keep the feet to the fire and keep pressing these people ‘til we defeat them or chase them back to their caves, or in other words, get rid of them.

Gosh, I can’t imagine why they’d feel offended by that. The Guardian offers a longer video that shows that all of Rudy’s fans in their frightened and/or bigoted glory. What a wonderful face of America to show the rest of the world.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/12/28/giuliani-campaign-official-rudy-is-the-only-candidate-who-can-chase-the-muslimsback-into-their-caves/
================================================

So, how is the dumbass Ghoul going to do that? Take out his Yankees bat ... oops, I forgot he's a Red Sox fan now.

What a loser!

Later ...

posted by rjsnj on 28 Dec 07 at 09:33A
Yeah, what he said!
IMPEACH BUSH/CHENEY!!!

Good morning, all.

gregg posted this AP article last night about far right "prosperity" Christian churches. The way things are going with the Republican economy they can soon be called far right "recession" Christian churches.

funny shit from the christian right wing...prosperity churches...and amalgam of snake oil, ayn randism and "how much do you believism"...

(AP) -- The message flickered into Cindy Fleenor's living room each night: Be faithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers said, and God will shower you with material riches...

...Yet the prosperity gospel continues to draw crowds, particularly lower- and middle-income people who, critics say, have the greatest motivation and the most to lose. The prosperity message is spreading to black churches, attracting elderly people with disposable incomes, and reaching huge churches in Africa and other developing parts of the world...

Posted by gregg on December 27, 2007 at 10:54 PM

It is the perfect marriage...conservative politics and organized crime preying on the weak. No wonder the GOP says they are so into the sanctity of marriage.

Greed has no bounds or has no shame.

Gotta run. later.

Good morning fellow democrats!

The Ghoul is finished.

Go away mcturd

McCain staggers around like a 71 year old man visiting a "Gentlemen's Club" for the first time.

Mitt has more positions than the busiest call girl on Canal Street.

good analogy Alamo! ;-)

Uncovered: Musharraf's police abandoned posts before shooting; Can't explain why no autopsy done: Developing...

Huckabee is a smooth talking regious flim flam artist and con man

Sen. Leahy says wiretapping bill is a top priority
Updated at 10:01 AM
Source: Vermont Public Radio

Senator Patrick Leahy says one of his top priorities in the coming weeks is the passage of a bill that requires the Bush Administration to obtain court approval before putting new electronic wiretapping programs in place.

Leahy is also opposed to plans to provide telephone companies with retroactive immunity for their participation in surveillance activities between 2001 and 2006.
...

Leahy says he's concerned that the Bush Administration conducted thousands of illegal searches of private telephone calls between 2001 and late 2006 as part of an anti terrorist program.

...

(Leahy) "I think there has been so much focus on what the telephone companies did that people have ignored the fact that many in the White House, former Attorney General Gonzales and others Dick Cheney and those in his office put together this plan to operate outside the law and I don't think we should pass legislation that allows them to escape liability and allows them to escape any responsibility for breaking the law."

----------

HERE! HERE! Sen. Leahy!! Bravo!

The Republicans don't have much to choose from.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
Friday, December 28, 2007

~snip~

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows Mike Huckabee slipping to second place with his lowest level of support since early December. In the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination, it’s Rudy Giuliani on top at 19%, Huckabee in second at 17% and John McCain within four points of the lead at 15%. Mitt Romney remains at 13% nationally and Fred Thompson is at 12% (see recent daily numbers). Ron Paul currently attracts 7% of Likely Republican Primary voters nationwide.

Immigration has emerged as the top issue in the Republican race. A commentary by Froma Harrop raises the question “What would happen if the United States seriously enforced the ban on hiring undocumented workers?” She suggests that “We may find out starting Jan. 1, when Arizona promises to do it locally.”

In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, it’s Hillary Clinton 40%, Barack Obama 23% and John Edwards 15%. Bill Richardson is supported by 3% of Likely Democratic Primary Voters and nobody else tops 2% nationally (see recent daily numbers).

Harpo, I am a cow girl and rancher from west Texas. That last remark makes me think you are a hugh, fresh, stinking cow chip!

CNN's latest Iowa Poll

Clinton
34%
Edwards
20%
Obama
19%
Biden
8%
Richardson
5%
Dodd
2%
Kucinich
2%
Unsure
10%

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Obama
30%
Clinton
28%
Edwards
14%
Richardson
7%
Kucinich
4%
Biden
3%
Other
1%
No opinion
12%

SOUTH CAROLINA

Obama
35%
Clinton
34%
Edwards
13%
Biden
1%
Kucinich
1%
Richardson
1%
Unsure
15%

Nevada

Clinton
34%
Obama
26%
Edwards
9%
Richardson
7%
Biden
4%
Kucinich
2%
Unsure
18%

and FLORIDA

Clinton
43%
Obama
21%
Edwards
19%
Biden
3%
Dodd
2%
Richardson
2%
Kucinich
1%
Unsure
9%

I have to go to work now. Got some cattle to move.

Some more interesting state polls from Real Clear Politics.

And on that note - off to Brunch for me.

Peace Fine Democrats!!!

Good MorningLady Dawn,
Thanks for the Polls. I can't understand New Hampshire though. Well, I sure it's just going up for Clinton.
Axelrod is still putting out that her vote killed Ms.Bhutto. Obama said it today. There were other senators that voted that same way, but its Clinton vote that killed her.
They sure play dirty politics. I thought the campaign was going to back away from that statement, but apparently not.

Can someone give me an answer to this question: Why is it that conservatives call liberals "terrorists" when most of the world's terrorizing is done by conservatives?

I've been reading the book "The End of America" by Virginia Wolf, and I believe that every person who is dedicated to improving (and saving) America should read this book. It's scary how this administration has us living in fear. We are being terrorized by the very people that are supposed to protect us and we need to come together to stop the madness!

http://www.serveoutloud.blogspot.com
Check out my blog...it's new, but I know you'll enjoy it.

I really do not understand the hatred here. Both parties are only interested in getting re-elected and could care less about us. They give each other our money so they can get re-elected (ear marks). Jim Wright left disgraced as did Tom Delay. Both parties are the problem and cannot be trusted. To be high and mighty about either of these parties is just dumb. Peace!!

dieharddemocrat, if that's your position, you may want to rethink your name.

Can someone give me an answer to this question: Why is it that conservatives call liberals "terrorists" when most of the world's terrorizing is done by conservatives?
===================================================
Easy. They are pathological liars. They need to twist everything around to divert attention from themselves. Conservatives today are nothing but fascists.

The "Whole Mystery" of Bhutto Assassination Solved Hotlist
by BarbinMD
Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 09:17:35 AM PST

Barely 24 hours after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the government of Pervez Musharraf has declared that:

...investigators had resolved the "whole mystery" behind the opposition leader's killing and would give details at press conference later Friday.

With "irrefutable evidence" that al-Qaida and the Taliban were behind the attack, it seems that there will be no need for the thorough investigation that the White House was calling for yesterday:

MR. STANZEL: I think it's -- from our perspective, it's important to have a review of this and to look into the matter, and I think it's important to the long-term prospects of democracy in Pakistan that there be an open review of this matter. And I think that that is something that is necessary. [...]

Q Does the administration trust the Pakistani government to investigate properly whether the government, itself, or any elements within it were involved in this attack?

MR. STANZEL: Well, that's sort of the answer that I provided to Steven. I think it's important to have a thorough investigation of that. We expect that that will happen and, like I said I said to Steven, I think we're willing to work with our allies in Pakistan to make sure that does happen.

==================================================

As I said a couple of days ago, I doubt we will ever know the truth. Mush will rush to cover it up and not allow an open investigation. He also controls the media in Pakistan. Let's face Mush is just another petty dictator.

Easy. They are pathological liars. They need to twist everything around to divert attention from themselves. Conservatives today are nothing but fascists.
Posted by rjsnj on December 28, 2007 at 12:32 PM

I get a kick out of them, rj, when they say all we do is complain and bitch! REMEMBER Clinton era? Remember there was not one good thing out of a Republican pie hole, despite the great economy, their 401K statements growing like crazy, they could buy houses, the world was closest to peace it ever had been, etc.

Yet all we heard for those 8 years was bitching, moaning and pissing about him! They were SO jealous that he beat out old man Bush and Bob Dole! hahahahaha

Dawn,

I heard on the TV a few minutes ago, that Bhutto did not die from any bullets nor shaprel! She had a head injury caused as she went to duck back into the sky window on the car. there were no bullets nor shrapnel in her. Also, it is her husband who said no more autoposies!

Yet all we heard for those 8 years was bitching, moaning and pissing about him! They were SO jealous that he beat out old man Bush and Bob Dole! hahahahaha
===================================================
PamB, GOP supporters remind me of robots. They are programmed by these hate radio pundits and all they do is repeat their banter. I got to laugh when someone comes in here and complains about "why all the hate?". Why don't you ask the GOP shills that question? And if they mean Chimpy Bush, well that's just too bad if you don't like us criticizing the worst president in history. That man made no effort at all to reach out to progressives. He's done every he can to derail the 110th Congress. Excatly why should we be kind to him?

Romney 3.0: Now a newer, sleeker, Reaganite model Hotlist
by brownsox
Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 08:02:42 AM PST

Renowned ex-liberal Mitt Romney, bleeding support in Iowa and New Hampshire as unsatisfied Republicans continue to grope around in the dark for their next Great White Hope, has come out swinging against a suddenly resurgent John McCain:

Romney fired away at McCain, repeatedly accusing the Arizona senator of failing "Reagan 101" by voting twice against Bush administration tax cuts. Romney also said McCain's past support for allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the United States and work toward legal status amounted to amnesty.

I find it especially interesting that Romney invokes the grading system in Reagan 101. I never took the class myself, opting instead to take US History 210: It’s Always Clinton’s Fault. But I have to believe that Romney himself surely failed Introductory Reagan, given that he disavowedthe legacy of Reagan-Bush when campaigning in 1994, taking particular pains to underscore the fact that he was an independent during the 1980s, not a Reagan Republican. Here’s a classic ad from the Log Cabin Republicans from Romney’s U.S. Senate campaign:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/28/11242/010/214/426928

================================================

Interesting watching Mitt the Flip twisting in the wind as he attempts to re-define himself. Of course, McCain is full of beans as well ...

Pretty good article in NYT Science section concerning Global Warming:

On Feb. 2, 2007, the United Nations scientific panel studying climate change declared that the evidence of a warming trend is "unequivocal," and that human activity has "very likely" been the driving force in that change over the last 50 years. The last report by the group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in 2001, had found that humanity had "likely" played a role.

The addition of that single word "very" did more than reflect mounting scientific evidence that the release of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from smokestacks, tailpipes and burning forests has played a central role in raising the average surface temperature of the earth by more than 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1900. It also added new momentum to a debate that now seems centered less over whether humans are warming the planet, but instead over what to do about it. In recent months, business groups have banded together to make unprecedented calls for federal regulation of greenhouse gases. The subject had a red-carpet moment when former Vice President Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," was awarded an Oscar; and the Supreme Court made its first global warming-related decision, ruling 5 to 4 that the Environmental Protection Agency had not justified its position that it was not authorized to regulate carbon dioxide.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html

"We did better when (Bill) Clinton was in than we did with Bush."
by Chris in Paris · 12/28/2007 11:19:00 AM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: Comments (148) · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!

Words from a registered Republican. With new polls pointing towards the economy and health care as the key issues for 2008, the GOP is in trouble. Americans trust the Democrats more than the Republicans on these issues. The question now, is which Democrat do we believe will be the strongest candidate for these issues?

Six out of 10 people polled said they believe it is at least somewhat likely that the U.S. economy will enter a recession next year. Slightly more — 64 percent — said they worried about a major unexpected medical expense, and 55 percent worried that the value of their stocks and retirement investments would drop.
More on the middle class concerns, after the jump.

http://www.americablog.com/2007/12/we-did-better-when-bill-clinton-was-in.html

Democratic Dead heat in Iowa
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 12/28/2007 12:57:00 PM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: Comment (0) · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!

There have been several new Iowa polls released this week -- and expect a couple more. On the Democratic side, both the LA Times/Bloomberg and Strategic Vision, a Republican polling firm, show dead heats. (More on the polls after the break)

One thing I'm intrigued by is sample for these polls. In 2004, approximately 120,000 Iowa Democrats attended the caucus. Yeah, that's all. From the beginning of September, according to Pollster.com, there have been approximately 40 polls conducted in Iowa. Adding the sample pools, almost 23,000 Iowans have been polled as likely caucus goers on the Democratic side -- or almost 1/5 of the actual amount of caucus goers have been polled. That's quite amazing, if, in fact, it proves to be true. This has got to be the most oversampled pool of 120,000+ voters in history.

http://www.americablog.com/2007/12/democratic-dead-heat-in-iowa.html

GARHI KHUDA BAKHSH, Pakistan — Hundreds of thousands of mourners thronged the mausoleum of Pakistan's most famous political dynasty in an outpouring of emotion for Benazir Bhutto. The government said al-Qaida and the Taliban were responsible for her death, claiming it intercepted an al-Qaida leader's message of congratulation for the assassination.

But many of Bhutto's furious supporters blamed President Pervez Musharraf's government for the shooting and bombing attack on the former prime minister, Musharraf's most powerful opponent. They rampaged through several cities in violence that left at least 23 dead less than two weeks before crucial parliamentary elections.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071228/pakistan/
================================================

In all probablity, the attack was Taliban / Al Qaeda given that it was a suicide bomber. So, why exactly does Chimpy think Bin Laden and his number two guy are un-important? Hell, they are right there in Pakistan. Bhutto's supporters appear to have a legitimate gripe that Mush did not protect her very well. That will stoke the anger in this country for a long time to come. The people there just don't like Musharraf.

I got to laugh when someone comes in here and complains about "why all the hate?". Why don't you ask the GOP shills that question? And if they mean Chimpy Bush, well that's just too bad if you don't like us criticizing the worst president in history. That man made no effort at all to reach out to progressives. He's done every he can to derail the 110th Congress. Excatly why should we be kind to him?
Posted by rjsnj on December 28, 2007 at 12:45 PM

You want to know my opinion, rj?

When 9/11 happened 9 months after Bush was elected, Even though his approval ratings were going down the dump at that time, there was not an American out here who would not gotten behind him and stood with him, had he done the right thing. NOBODY complained when he sent our boys to Afghanistan. We were all pulling for Bin Laden to get caught. He could have become the greatest President in modern history had he not decided to EXPLOIT the situation and listen to Cheney and PNAC and go into Iraq!

Instead, he has made himself the fool of the world. Hated by all. You see countries electing other leaders to get their countrymen out of the Illegal occupation of Iraq. He turned the USA image into a disaster.

I will never forgive him for that, and I will make sure people all remember it !

Instead, he has made himself the fool of the world. Hated by all. You see countries electing other leaders to get their countrymen out of the Illegal occupation of Iraq. He turned the USA image into a disaster.
===================================================

PamB, that's the truth. I supported the action in Afghanistan. To this day, I am completely baffled by that crazy "axis of evil" speech he gave. As soon as I heard it, I knew he was on the wrong track and was going to get the USA into deep trouble.

Nice article by Arianna Huffington who apparently knew Bhutto:

The world is debating the political fallout from Benazir Bhutto's assassination -- from fear of chaos in Pakistan to the impact of her death in Iowa. There is already no shortage of analysis about the national security implications of her death, but I want to write about the young woman I met in England before she became a player on the world stage.

She was at Oxford. I was at Cambridge. And by a strange coincidence I became president of the Cambridge Union and she became president of the Oxford Union. The anomaly of two foreign women heading the two unions meant that we ended up debating each other around England on topics ranging from British politics to broad generalities about the impact of technological advance on mankind.

When I checked my blackberry this morning at 5:28 am LA time there was an e-mail from our news editor Katherine Zaleski: "Benazir Bhutto killed by bombing." Just as the news was filled with the details of her death, my mind was filled with how full of life she had been every time I had seen her, including the last time in 1998 when she came to my home in Los Angeles for a dinner (which Harry Shearer, also there, wrote about). She was in exile, her husband in jail, and she was separated from her children. But still, there was an incredible life force about her, a sense that no matter what life brought her way, whether a tough debating argument, or exile, or her father's death by hanging, or the deaths of her two brothers -- she could deal with it, and she would prevail. Until the rally in Rawalpindi.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/benazir-bhutto-from-the-_b_78488.html?view=print

Car bomb kills at least 14 in Baghdad market
At least 14 people died and 64 others were wounded Friday when a car bomb detonated in the middle of a busy market in central Baghdad, hospital and police officials said. At least one woman and a child were killed in the blast, police said. Full Story:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/12/28/iraq.html

Car bomb kills at least 14 in Baghdad market
===================================================

Hi DKA,

Once again, the American media is silent. They have definitely been intimidated by the Pentagon into not reporting "negative news" on Iraq. No doubt it's because the pigs have been oinking for more media consolidation.

Yes! In running for the next presidential election, democrats need to repeatedly warn people that another vote for another 'Republican', is as good as putting another Bush in the White House.

Buttho was not very smart. In this day and age, just run televised campaingn agenda. Just setup TV outside and ask people to go out and look..

You have to smart like your enemy, dont be dumb!!

I don't mean just dems, with hatred. We haven't really had a majority elected President since 1988. Twenty years of a divided country is not a good thing for any of us. Just my opinion. Peace!!

Hey DKA, Pammy and Jersey (etc),
I'm bak - lunch was grand - FISH on Friday! I'm such a good Catholic (even though I'm not). ;-)

just kidding - but the flounder really was good!
it's POURING out side though. We need it so I won't complain.

------------------

Posted by margotb822 on December 28, 2007 at 12:19 PM

very nice and well thought out! Thank you.

I always knew she was not goint to last long, running around. House arrest would have been good for her. She should have run her campaign from house arrest. THis is the 21st Century, use the technology you have.. Deuhh... look at Osama Bin Laden. He's smart. He televises his news through tapes and sends it off...

If you value democracy, run smarter campaigns. Important figures need to udnerstand that to fight the war on terrorism, they must stay alive at all cost. Dont play stupid.

The hatred goes both ways, I didn't mean just the Dems. We really have not had a majority elected President since 1988. Twenty years of being divided is not a good thing. Just my opinion. Peace!!

Good afternoon fellow Democrats. Good morning to the left coast.

Rudy Giuliani’s new ad..Same as the old 9/11 talking points…
By: John Amato @ 10:29 AM - PST

I was wondering when Rudy would put on the full frontal 9/11 assault ad. He calls it “Freedom.” I call it despicable. Fear-mongering is his only friend. Joe Biden said it the best:

Biden: “…And the irony is, Rudy Giuliani, probably the most under qualified person since George Bush to seek the presidency, is here - talking about any of the people here. Rudy Giuliani. I mean think about it, Rudy Giuliani, there’s only three things he mentions in a sentence — a noun and a verb and 9/11 and I mean, there’s nothing else. There’s nothing else.” (video)

I’m surprised his wife didn’t call him in the middle of filming it. BushCo. has done quite a bit to chip away some of our basic freedoms as it is. Let’s ask the Ranks: (08/17/07)

On July 4, 2004, Nicole and Jeffery Rank attended President Bush’s speech at the West Virginia State Capitol. They were handcuffed, arrested and charged with trespassing for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts. They sued the federal government. Yesterday they settled their suit for $80,000.

When you get arrested for wearing protest T-shirts at a Bush event, I’d say that’s attacking “freedom as well, don’t you?

Jim Kuhnhenn’s analysis is a bit off:

For weeks, Giuliani has portrayed himself as the leader who oversaw the social and economic turnaround of a city. But he had kept his role during the hours and days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks out of his ads…read on

Has Jim been paying attention to Rudy at all? (h/t Kathy)
=================================================

What a jerk Rudy the Ghoul is.

Hey here's a good laugh for ya all:

Bush was asked at a White House press conference last week if he would consider a “goodwill mission to restore the country’s good name abroad.” The president said, “That’s what I do during my presidency. I go around spreading goodwill and talking about the importance of spreading freedom and peace.”
==================================================

Chimpy is spreading "freedom and peace". How's that for Orweilian double speak.

Posted by Free on December 28, 2007 at 01:41 PM

I don't think that type of campaign would've worked for former PM Bhutto. Pakistan is as backwater as Afghanistan is if not more. I seriously doubt that even half of the electorate has access to mass media outlets such as TV. Ms. Bhutto was the Pakistani version of the late Sen. Bobby Kennedy (D-NY), IMHO. Unfortunately, she met the same fate.

Good afternoon fellow Democrats. Good morning to the left coast.

Posted by BobVADemHawk-Biden2008 on December 28, 2007 at 01:47 PM
==================================================

Good afternoon to you Bob from VA.

Posted by BobVADemHawk-Biden2008 on December 28, 2007 at 01:56 PM

sad but true, I agree!

I don't think that type of campaign would've worked for former PM Bhutto.
===================================================

Literacy is also quite low in Pakistan (about 50%). Mass mailings wouldn't work very well. Mass media is limited because the country is predominantly poor. As Bob already said, it's unlikely that much of the population owns a TV or even a radio. She was running a campaign the way politicians generally have to in Pakistan - face to face, meeting lots of people.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Joe Biden's aides call it "Mo-Joe" — a last-minute surge of momentum and good luck they hope could power the Delaware senator into a better-than-expected showing in Iowa's leadoff caucuses.

"There's a fingertip instinct that tells me something is going on. I feel like I'm still in the game," Biden said in a telephone interview as he traveled to a campaign event in Cedar Rapids.

Aides acknowledge it remains an uphill trudge for Biden, a Democrat whose distinguished 35-year Senate career has been eclipsed by the star power of rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

But with all eyes on those two candidates and former Sen. John Edwards as they compete for the lead in Iowa, Biden is on a high-energy sprint across the state hoping to catch on with enough voters to make a difference.

He draws enthusiastic crowds to his events and last week began his first sustained TV ad campaign. He was approved for $857,000 in matching funds this week by the Federal Election Commission, helping to ease the financial pressure on his cash-strapped campaign.

Operatives for rival candidates say privately they've detected substantial pockets of support for Biden in some rural areas and in the ethnic, heavily Catholic industrial towns along the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. Complicated caucus rules mean those pockets could produce enough delegates for Biden to have an impact.

With polls showing Bill Richardson's support appearing to fade and Chris Dodd still struggling to catch on, Biden's advisers are hoping for a strong fourth-place finish and say they can even envision coming in third. Their outside hope is for Biden somehow to overtake Edwards, who draws much of his support from the same blue-collar and rural voters Biden is trying to woo...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gPmd2pPkhfgQulnxeMnO12wl163wD8TM118G0

It ain't over 'til its over. Sen. Biden (D-DE) is the most qualified and electable Democratic candidate for POTUS, IMHO. His thirty-five years in the Senate with more than twenty years on the Foreign Relations Committee by far makes him the most capable of dealing with the issue of the planet in the 21st century. Vote for Joe Biden in your respective state primaries.

Here is a clip of Biden (as a matter of fact) on Hardball in case anyone missed it.

HAWKEYE POLL HAS CLINTON LEADING
By GEOFF EARLE Post Correspondent
(granted this is the NY Post)

December 28, 2007 -- DENISON, Iowa - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is leading in Iowa six days before the caucuses, with John Edwards edging out Sen. Barack Obama, a new poll shows.

Clinton snares 31 percent of the Hawkeye State vote, while Edwards gets 25 percent and Obama is third at 22 percent among likely caucus-goers, an LA Times/Bloomberg poll released last night shows.

The poll shows Clinton's "experience"-heavy message in the state has been working - 79 percent of Democrats say they believe she's ready to be president, while just 43 percent believe that about Obama.

Posted by rjsnj on December 28, 2007 at 01:58 PM

Hello RJ. Good to "see" you again.

Vote for Joe Biden in your respective state primaries.

Posted by BobVADemHawk-Biden2008 on December 28, 2007 at 02:11 PM
===================================================

Good plug Bob!

But alas, I am still an Edwards supporter! Go John Edwards!

Here's yet another PUG to add to the WALL OF SHAME!!

~snip~

Alabama governor accused of violating campaign finance laws
Muriel Kane
Published: Friday December 28, 2007

Alabama's Republican Governor Bob Riley may have attempted to conceal illegal corporate donations to his 2002 and 2006 campaigns by representing them in campaign finance reports as having come from individuals, according to an an investigation carried out by the Montgomery Independent.

Riley's campaigns have been under close scrutiny during the past several weeks, with questions being raised about his narrow victory over incumbent Don Siegelman in 2002, followed by Siegelman's prosecution on what many consider to be trumped-up charges when he proposed to run again in 2006.

...Sen. Joe Biden received endorsements from two key Iowa elected officials. State Representatives Dennis Cohoon of Burlington and Eric Palmer of Oskaloosa become the 15th and 16th Iowa State legislators to endorse Sen. Biden.

“I am supporting Sen. Biden because he’s the most prepared to be president from Day One,” said Rep. Cohoon. “And as a high school special education teacher for thirty years, I know Sen. Biden can accomplish the education reforms we need to get kids in preschool earlier and give them the opportunity to go to college.”

Rep. Palmer stressed Sen. Biden’s experience in world affairs and his commitment to civil rights: “The Des Moines Register talked about knowledge and experience in their endorsement. To me Joe Biden exhibits real knowledge and experience in foreign affairs and his understanding of the constitution, both qualities not exhibited by this White House. As Vice-Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, I am particularly impressed with Sen. Biden’s expertise in constitutional law, which will be critical to getting America back on track.”

In commenting on the endorsements, Biden for President National Political Director Danny O’Brien said, “These are two huge endorsements for Senator Biden that point to his growing momentum in the state. Eric and Dennis were highly sought after and the fact that they chose Joe Biden demonstrates that Iowans are beginning to focus in on what really matters in a president, authenticity and readiness for office.” Added O’Brien, who is also serving as Iowa State Director for the campaign, “We are very grateful to Eric and Dennis for stepping up at this critical time.”

In accepting the endorsement, Senator Biden said, “Getting the endorsement of two men I respect so much is a great tonic for the final push in Iowa. I know that what matters most in Iowa are the voices inside the caucuses who have the most respect from their constituents. That voice belongs to state and local officials. I have such tremendous gratitude for Rep. Cohoon and Rep. Palmer for their support and their confidence in our campaign.

Rep. Dennis Cohoon was first elected in 1986 and has served in the Iowa State House for 21 years. He has been a high school special education teacher at Burlington Community High School for 30 years and is a member of the Iowa State Educators Association. Rep. Cohoon serves on several committees in the Iowa House: the Appropriations Committee, Education Committee, Local Government Committee, and Transportation Committee. He is also the Chairman of the Transportation, Infrastructure, and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee.

Rep. Eric Palmer was elected to the Iowa State House in 2006 and is serving his first term. Prior to his service in the House, Rep. Palmer was an Oskaloosa City Councilman for 6 years, and he has been an attorney in Oskaloosa for 20 years. Rep. Palmer serves on several committees in the Iowa State House: the Education Committee, Human Resources Committee, Labor Committee, Ways and Means Committee and he serves as Vice Chairman of the Judiciary committee. Rep. Palmer also serves on the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee.

Reps. Cohoon and Palmer join an impressive group of Iowa state legislators who have endorsed Senator Biden including: State Sen. Joe Seng (Davenport), House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Des Moines), Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Polly Butka (Clinton), Rep. John Whitaker (Hillsboro), Rep. Doris Kelley (Waterloo), Rep. Lisa Heddens (Ames), Rep. Jim Lykam (Davenport), Rep. Mike Reasoner (Creston), Rep. Dick Taylor (Cedar Rapids), Rep. Roger Thomas (Elkader), Rep. McKinley Bailey (Webster City), State Senator Herman C. Quirmbach (Ames), Rep. Mary Gaskill (Ottumwa) and Rep. Bruce Hunter (Des Moines).

http://www.joebiden.com/newscenter/pressreleases?id=0263

Posted by BobVADemHawk-Biden2008 on December 28, 2007 at 02:21 PM

good for him! He needs it if he has any hopes of getting a spot in the next DEM cabinet.

Posted by rjsnj on December 28, 2007 at 02:18 PM

Fair enough. For what it's worth, if Biden can't get enough support to get out of IA and\or NH, former Sen. Edwards (D-NC) is my second choice. The GOP wouldn't stand a chance against a Edwards\Richardson or Edwards\Obama ticket.

OMG talk about a HUGE AZZ!

Dec 28, 2:26 PM EST
~snip~

Bush Plans to Veto Defense Policy Bill

By BEN FELLER
Associated Press Writer

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- President Bush plans to veto a sweeping defense policy bill on grounds that language exposing the Iraqi government to damage suits stemming from the Saddam Hussein era would derail Baghdad's efforts to rebuild the country.

Administration officials said Bush was expected the veto the bill Friday.

Democratic congressional leaders complained that Bush's move was thrust upon them at the last minute. The controversy centers on one provision in the legislation dealing with Iraqi assets. The bill would permit plaintiffs' lawyers immediately to freeze Iraqi funds and would expose Iraq to "massive liability in lawsuits concerning the misdeeds of the Saddam Hussein regime," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

"The new democratic government of Iraq, during this crucial period of reconstruction, cannot afford to have its funds entangled in such lawsuits in the United States," Stanzel said in a statement.

House and Senate Democrats said Friday the first time they'd heard of any White House concerns with the legislation was after Congress sent the bill to Bush for his signature.

Posted by BobVADemHawk-Biden2008 on December 28, 2007 at 02:27 PM
==================================================

Those would all be good tickets. We'll do well no matter who is the final choice. The GOP is running a pack of losers, nut cases and re-threads.

Bob

will you stay at home if Biden or Eddie are not the DEM candidate???? (chances are slim for either but that's just what I'm reading EVERYwhere, sorry)

I hope you are not one to stay home otherwise.

OMG talk about a HUGE AZZ!

Dec 28, 2:26 PM EST
===================================================

Dawn,

As I said above, Chimpy has made it his job this year to derail the 110th Congress. I have absolutely no respect for him. He is the worst president in history and has done nothing to reconcile himself with over 50% (maybe as much as 75%) of the citizens in this country. Basically, he has shoved his obnoxious right wing pseudo-religious warmongering nonsense down our throats for 7 years. Good riddance!

Good afternoon, everyone.

My heart goes out to the family of Benazir Bhutto. I had not realized that she was in exile while her husband was still in jail in Pakistan nor that she was separated from her children for a time.

We take our freedom and justice way too much for granted in this country. She gave her life fighting for them in Pakistan.

The Republicans are slowly but surely taking these precious liberties away from us...after our forefathers fought so hard for them. There is a lesson here for the American people.

Instead of obsessing over such trival things as who might win the American Idol competition, shouldn't our nation's statesmen/women be challenging citizens to stand up for their democracy?

Torture and pre-emptive attacks are beneath us. We have an obligation to uphold the principles that the founding fathers included in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Posted by SandyH on December 28, 2007 at 02:39 PM

I am sick to DEATH of Idol and shows like it.

Is the writers strike over yet? jez. :-[

(I guess it's lucky I don't watch much TV or I'd probably have thrown something through the screen by now)

actually I feel that way lately listening to certain TV news hacks - like Tweety for example. He drools so much it makes my stomach turn.

oh oh I almost forgot, I was LOL when I went back to read your response about our inmate trolls having a stop off at the airport bathroom. HAHA!

Posted by Ladydawn on December 28, 2007 at 02:37 PM

Absolutely not; I shall support whomever we nominate except Rep. Kucinich (D-OH) or former Sen. Gravel (D-AK). Any of the others currently seeking the nomination would make a fine POTUS, IMHO.

Torture and pre-emptive attacks are beneath us. We have an obligation to uphold the principles that the founding fathers included in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Posted by SandyH on December 28, 2007 at 02:39 PM
===================================================

Sandy, darn right. That's another reason why I have nothing but disdain for the Chimpenfuhrer and the puppet master Cheney.

dawn,

I prefer not to pay much attention to what the media and polls are saying. It's important to me to listen to what the candidates are saying about the issues that concern the American voters the most.

If there has ever been a time when politicians needed to listen to the people it is now. The electorate is frustrated and disillusioned. It's not enough to say the right things, voters have to believe the candidates understand the problems and have the will to fix them.

Saying you have knowledge, experience, and judgment is not the same as conveying the impression that you can deliver.

It's become obvious that voters are looking more closely at candidates who they feel they can trust. I think the American voter is ready for a serious candidate like Ike with whom they can place their full trust.

Trust and dependability. That is what this nation needs and yearns to have again.

Back to the grind. later.

Is the writers strike over yet? jez. :-[
====================================================

No! I heard today that they are not even talking with other.

Posted by BobVADemHawk-Biden2008 on December 28, 2007 at 02:50 PM

whew! glad to read it. I have not heard word ONE from Dennis in a long time. And Gravel? Well I kind of liked his quirkiness until I saw his WEIRDer than life Xmas video. stttttrrrrrrrrrrange! Must be something about the weather in Alaska? lol

and speaking of VA my R cousin told me yesterday that he is GLAD Warner is leaving. I was shocked. ANy chance the OTHER Warner will try to take his place?

It's important to me to listen to what the candidates are saying about the issues that concern the American voters the most.

Sandy that's great if you are really listening to all of them and not just your fav?

Also, I had a comment about endorsements. You don't think they matter much but I whole heartedly disagree. When I WAS able to work (and mostly as some version of some office manager) I hired many and fired few but their resume was very important to me and their endorsements or references were number ONE! That's the only way someone got hired. If they had too few they never even got looked at by me. That was how I was taught.

So to me it's the MOST important thing. Qualification, resume, endorsements! If you're willing to put your (hopefully) good name behind someone, it means a LOT.

gtg

bbl

peace

gtg

bbl

peace

Posted by SandyH on December 28, 2007 at 02:39 PM

Torture and pre-emptive attacks are beneath us. We have an obligation to uphold the principles that the founding fathers included in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

While we agree 100% on torture, pre-emptive strikes could be feasible under proper circumstances. The pre-emptive strike in Iraq was mostly unwarranted, though, IMHO.

In the 21st century, the POTUS needs to have the War Powers Act at his disposal for the very same reasons we enacted. Except now, our main enemy is not the Soviet Union but Al-Qaeda. What we need is a POTUS whom we can trust to use the power of the office of POTUS wisely. That has happened very rarely, if ever, over the last seven years.

Good Afternoon, ALL!

So now Maliki is jerking Chimpy around. What a weakling. First Chimpy bankrupts our Treasury so we have to rely on China and Japan to keep us afloat, NOW Iraq is threatening Chimpy with economic blackmail.

Subsequently, the government of Iraq raised objections to Section 1083, in which Congress strengthened the ability of victims of the brutality of Saddam Hussein to seek compensation. The Iraqi government has warned that plaintiffs, including former U.S. POWs who had been held captive during the first Gulf War in the 1990s, might cite this section in seeking compensation from its assets currently in U.S. banks — reportedly $25 billion. The Iraqi government has threatened that, unless President Bush agrees to veto the Defense Department legislation, Iraqi leaders will immediately move assets out of U.S. banks.

(bold mine)

This comes from the "Background" section of Speaker Pelosi's response to Chimpy threatening to veto the Defense Appropriations Bill, thus killing the Military pay raise and the Wounded Veterans Assistance facets too.

Pelosi and Reid Condemn Bush Plan to Veto of Defense Authorization Bill

Chimpy is a stumbler and bumbler beeyond imagination. How could such a stupid dolt be allowed to even visit the White House unless it's on a guided tour with the rest of the 8th graders?

It looks like the Republican machine is preparing for Edwards.
They running commercials saying "stop lawsuit abuse." The reasons they list are pretty funny. It's a very sneaky ploy.

Why does this blog let gross, mean, stupid trolls post?
it makes all Republicans look like Sam BROWNBACK, Larry CRAIG, Rick SANTORUM morons. I suppose they are.

How about the Republicans get Larry Craig and Sam Brownback to re-submit the "marriage bill?"
They can call it the "Craig-Brownback Bill!" LOL. Hi HO Cowboy!
Talk about a "wide stance" on the marriage issue.

I went on my 8th grade trip. It didn't take me until HS to be mature enough to go. Apparently since you still haven't mentally matured it must have been a "Special" tour for "Special" 18 year olds. Or possibly a Middle of the night romp with that eras Gannon/Guckert, perhaps?

Harpo, the wimp who hides from Democrats. he can't even use his/her name. He's scared of democrats. HAHAHA.
He makes up new names and chats with himself. LOSER!

Thanks to Harpo and Republicans, Chinese goods fill the shelves in America. They did it for the money, and they are TRADERS!

I like the Motto of General Wesley Clark's WesPac:

When President Bush leaves town, we want Rubber Stamp Republicans in the House to be where they've always been -- right behind him.

Ask the military who's treasonous.
Keep hiding behind your name, macho tough guy.
Harpo... LOL. Ophra has invaded your small mind.

Don't worry about it; it's the Chimp kisser's mental illness. They confuse that alcoholic blow monkey WITH "America". They liken telling the truth about the WORST POS to EVER stink up the Oval Office to "hating America".

They just refuse to acknowlege reality. Chimpy is NOT "America".

Chimpy is A Piece of SHIT.

America ISN'T.

They just refuse to acknowlege reality. Chimpy is NOT "America".

Chimpy is A Piece of SHIT.

America ISN'T.

Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 28, 2007 at 04:42 PM
===================================================

That's for sure. The right wing hacks worship the Chimpenfuhrer. Chimp is as un-American as it gets. Chimp and the other fascist Cheney should have been impeached long time ago.

Later ...

They just refuse to acknowlege reality. Chimpy is NOT "America".

Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 28, 2007 at 04:42 PM

Doo Bee, I am constantly amazed that they think because we criticize e.g what George Bush has done to this country, That he is possibly the lowest IQ president to ever have office. That he is a liar, an AWOL coward, has outspent any Democratic President in history, that SOMEHOW that means we are criticizing the USA !

Did we call them anti American and unpatriotic when they were ganging up on Bill Clinton??? I don't remember so! We called them assholes, but never anti American!

Funny littler critters, aren't they?

Im bak - still pouring out!! wow.

Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 28, 2007 at 04:28 PM

awesome! He's my hero!

It takes some getting used to this COLDdddddddddd rain!

not at all like Florida! It's a bummer I can't go skipping through the puddles (since I'm doggie sitting). Well I could but then I'd end up with pneumonia.

Anyone watching Tweety? I hear him from the other room. yawn.

Posted by PamB on December 28, 2007 at 04:59 PM

Ain't they though? It's that, "You're with us or against us" mentality. Conservatives are incapable or unwilling of distinguishing shades of gray in issues.

Romney administration could have kept killer behind bars

SHIRLEY, Mass. -- A killer accused in the slaying of a newlywed couple in Washington state shortly after he was released from prison in Massachusetts should have been held behind bars for almost a year longer, but the Romney administration failed to file paperwork in time to take away his "good time" credits.

The Department of Correction, under then-Gov. Mitt Romney, did not act on disciplinary recommendation to strip 300 days of credit from Daniel Tavares after he was accused of threats to prison staff in 2003, state officials announced Friday in releasing results of a probe into the Tavares case.

Posted by PamB on December 28, 2007 at 04:59 PM
They are mean. snarling, foaming at the mouth, little ankle biters!

Look at what this cowardly Chimp is trying to pull NOW. He threatens to VETO the Defense Bill which provides for pay raises for the Military and Wounded Veterans' Funding among other things but he doesn't want to be associated with HIS OWN actions!

Here's how KargoX puts it:

He hasn't even got the stones to put his signature to it

Bush claims Senate's pro forma sessions don't count

This ass has got to go. He is the WORST HUMAN EVER!

The Democratic campaign committees ended November with nearly five times as much cash on hand as their Republican counterparts. This means Democrats will enter 2008 well-positioned to pick up additional seats due to their continued financial advantage and a slew of GOP retirements, largely in highly competitive districts.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $4.1 million in November, compared with the $2.7 million brought in by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The DCCC now has $30.7 million cash on hand, exponentially more than the $2.3 million banked by the NRCC.

On the Senate side, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ended November with $25.5 million banked, more than double the cash on hand of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, with about $10.4 million.

Still, House Republican fortunes rose somewhat last month when GOP members’ campaign committees kicked in about $3 million to the NRCC — transactions that were not reported in the most recent filings. That money will go into the committee’s coffers — and not to immediately pay off the $3.35 million in debt...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7509.html

It would appear that the GOP run their campaigns like they run the business of America; on their credit card making the minimum payment only and trashing their credit rating in the process.

Good night fellow Democrats. Keep the Faith and keep the faith. The liberal revolution is now...

Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on December 28, 2007 at 05:47 PM......There is something seriously wrong with Bush....is he really insane?

I just heard flat out lie about what Hillary said on her first campaign stop after the death of Bhutto. He said she came right out and said it was going to benefit her campaign, I watched that speech and she absolutely did not. She would not politicize the death of such a great leader.
Obama sucks! Obama's people suck! If you can't beat her then lie about her just as rove, delay, mathews, russett and the rest of the crap load of republicans and their mouthpieces

Posted by connfloyd on December 28, 2007 at 05:58 PM

Hey Connie. Try not to let it get to you. I heard Wolf earlier keep pestering Hillary for some kind of confrontation about what Obama said but she stayed above it all and stuck to the important facts of Bhutto's death. Exactly as she should respond, imo. This petty crap is for ALL OF the shifty campaign managers. That's what they were hired for, I believe.

It's crunch time. They are ALL going to be thrashing each other the next couple of days, I bet.

It's all part of the wretched game of politics. Sadly. The LIES will be brought out. NO swiftboating this time around. We'll be ready for it. At least we don't assassinate the competition like they do in (say) Pakistan. Great example of what WE DON'T want this country to become.

Are the DAMN DNC moderators on permanent vacation or something???? jezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzus why can't we clean up this troll infestation once and for all??? GAWwwwwwwwwd!

Sometimes I think they WANT THESE A-HOLES in here just to prove to the world the difference between DEMS and PUKES!!

But that would be a dumb thing to do imo. It's so funny though cuz they will call us all kinds of names, diss us, etc., yet they keep hanging around?? Like they are trapped or something and we're forcing them to READ THE TRUTH! OH THEIR EYES MUST BURN!!

lmao!

stinken, no good, useless individuals (non human), sucky toads with tiny dicks! blechhhhhhh!

Connie this could make you feel better. Speaking of Wes Clark

Breaking -- Gen. Wesley Clark responds to the latest Obama attack:

"This is a time for leadership, not politics. Senator Obama's campaign seems to believe that Senator Clinton's actions led to the tragic events in Pakistan. This is an incredible and insulting charge. It politicizes a tragic event of enormous strategic consequence to the United States and the world, and it has no place in this campaign."

I'm thinking Wes will be a GREAT VP choice if Hillary wins the primaries. She'd be DUMB NOT to pick him.

Right ON Vermont~!!

~snip~

Vermont town seeks Bush, Cheney arrests

Town in Liberal Vermont Considers Measure to Have Bush, Cheney Arrested for War Crimes

DAVE GRAM
AP News

Dec 28, 2007 16:54 EST

President Bush may soon have a new reason to avoid left-leaning Vermont: In one town, activists want him subject to arrest for war crimes.

A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on a town meeting agenda in March that would make Bush and Vice President Cheney subject to arrest and indictment if they visit the southeastern Vermont community.

"This petition is as radical as the Declaration of Independence, and it draws on that tradition in claiming a universal jurisdiction when governments fail to do what they're supposed to do," said Kurt Daims, 54, a retired machinist leading the drive.

As president, Bush has visited every state except Vermont.

Why isn't the MSM reporting this important measure?

WASHINGTON, December 29 - RIA Novosti, Alexei Berezin. Action Team in the American city of Brattleboro (VT) filed a petition to the local council to place the issue on the ballot for the arrest of U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for war crimes, local media reported.
If the city council approves the petition, then Bush and Cheney will be arrested as soon as they arrive in the town of Brattleboro.

"This petition is a radical as the Declaration of Independence" - said militant movement Deyms Court.

To incorporate the issue of the arrest of Bush and Cheney on the agenda of the City Council one thousand signatures must be collected.

The State of Vermont is known for its liberal views: former state Senate voted to support Bush's impeachment. The staff is constantly undergoing antiwar rallies, and the bumper sticker on the car "Bush Impeachment" - an ordinary case.

Activists want a vote on the issue of the arrest of Bush and Cheney

Dawn,

You beat me to it. I wonder if they will send them to the Hague?

Good evening, all.

This is a time for leadership, not politics.

It's a primary. It's a time for politics.

Who does Clark think he's fooling. If he wants the VP post that bad, he's going to have to be a little less transparent of his support for Clinton...she just might not get the nod when the primaries are over.

With other good choices available for VP it's not a done deal.

Harpo, this is old news. The MSM has been reporting it since late this morning. Has it taken Faux News this long to get the message and pass it along to you? I suppose Limbaugh has proof positive that Bin Lauden personally pulled the trigger? Funny how he knows everything.

Posted by Ladydawn on December 28, 2007 at 06:18 PM.

That, and "evidence". Once it "goes away" the trolls who re-write other peoples' posts and just flat out make them up and attach TIME STAMPS to them aren't really gone. 'Maybe' (Pssst...don't tell anyone) Lawyers are involved.

Humpo's claim that he really doesn't care because his juvenile diaper and "poo" and "fat ass" comments are gone in 24 hours is probably because he is too stuck on "Stupid" to come to the realization that having them archived for ALL the world to see is HIS cyber-legacy.

It's sad how desperate and pathetic these self proclaimed "tough guys" REALLY are when they just act like 8 year old losers.

Pathetic.

Be prepared for more "diaper", "poo", "bestiality", "tranquilizer guns', (etc) well thought out political "debate" (which they ALL claim was the ONLY reason to come on here, until THEY were "attacked"....Their "fall back" position.)

They are the Cyber equivalent of school yard bullies, and when they get slapped down revert to "I smell underwear" retorts.

Who gives a Holy Shit about how much Pam's Mayor weighs?

Pam worked her fingers to the bone to get her candidate elected and now Pam has HER Mayor!

WAY TO GO PAM!!!!!!!!!!!

Chubby Cheeto (OTOH) is too busy talking about asses, dicks, bondage, rubber/leather suits, bestiality, diapers, SHIT, ETC.

What a FINE example, and self confession of what the Pugs really care about.

Sad and pathetic, as evidenced by ALL 4 of them spending the entire time from 6 PM (EST) 12/23 to 6AM (EST) 12/26 "talking" to each other about THEIR personal perversions which ARE Shit, diapers, bestiality, asses, dicks, ETC. and projecting them on Dems.

It's like an 8 year old's game of "Let's talk dirty"

It's truly a mental disease.

Grow up!

Time to get the grub going.

hey dawn, i just can't get used to politics, guess i believe in my heart of hearts clinton is who we need at the time we need her. I guess im getting so much like my mom, she used to give the t v hell when her favorite bill was in.
the pukes really obscured his legacy. he really did do quiet a few good things for america.
My daughter who is pregnant and is a fulltime ultrasonographer will get to use the family leave act.
I tried to use it when i had to take my dad to cancer therapy every day for 7 weeks 60 miles a day. The powers that run hospitals in texas haven't heard of that act and probably don't think they need to worry about using it because this is BUSHIT COUNTRY. hAD TO BE REAL CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE MY JOB. IT SURE PIST ME OFF THOUGH.

Posted by Ladydawn on December 28, 2007 at 03:04 PM

dawn,

If I wasn't listening to all of the candidates, I wouldn't have given Biden a second look. I've also been impressed with Dodd of late.

I'm not hiring an employee. I'm selecting the best leader who will deliver a progressive agenda and who will have the coat tails necessary to insure a super majority in Congress.

Since none of our candidates has ever been a top executive except Richardson I don't see how endorsements really means anything.

Posted by connfloyd on December 28, 2007 at 07:43 PM

understandable!

Posted by Johnedwrd on December 28, 2007 at 07:24 PM

jinx {{JE}} and Welcome Back ;-)

Posted by SandyH on December 28, 2007 at 07:30 PM

dude listen he's a 4 STAR GENERAL he's not trying to "fool" anyone. He's worried about this country. PERIOD. jezzzz Sandy, talk about CYNICAL and insulting? pft. :-\

Ok I'm off to watch the TV news (Keith of course)

good luck everyone
Peas

sorry folks, i can't stand to hear dodd talk.it's his voice modulation. He alsoirritates me with that young wife. i won't vote for anybody that trades in the old 40 year old for a 20 year old. thats just my upbringing and i cant change that.
i would love to go the colorado for the convention. can anyone go or do you have to be invited or exactly how is it done?

Posted by BobVADemHawk-Biden2008 on December 28, 2007 at 03:25 PM

Bob,

I haven't disagreed with you of late, but I think you are dead wrong here. Al Queada is not a country. They are small but dedicated group of loosely allied anarchists. You go after these people with the CIA and special opps.

You don't forfiet Congressional power to any President to wage war without a thorough review of the situation and a vote. In a nuclear age, it's even more important not to play cowboy and act quick on the trigger.

War is hell. One does not march into it thinking that it will all work out for the better. Everyone loses. Life is so fragile to begin with. Nuclear disaster among nations could mean the end of all life on this planet.

I do not want to give any one person no matter how smart they are the right to pre-emptively end existence as we know it.

Posted by Ladydawn on December 28, 2007 at 07:52 PM

I'm surprised with your attitude, dawn.

You were in the military. Surely, you are not trying to tell me that that organization is not one of the most political of places.

Wes Clark ran for President in 2004 and he's running for VP now. He's political. He's been sending me e-mails for years now....because he thinks I like to keep in touch for old time's sake?

I like him. He impressed me last time around. I wish he had gotten into the presidential campaign this year.

But being a four star general only gives him considerable insight and experience into military matters which is only one of the responsibilities of a president. His endorsement is no more important than others distinguished Americans.

We are all worried...about the Republicans somehow finding a way to do it to us again.

The hatred goes both ways, I didn't mean just the Dems. We really have not had a majority elected President since 1988. Twenty years of being divided is not a good thing. Just my opinion. Peace!!

Posted by dieharddemocrat on December 28, 2007 at 01:44 PM

Better correct that, we had a majority elected President in 2004.

Nuclear disaster among nations could mean the end of all life on this planet.

Posted by SandyH on December 28, 2007 at 08:03 PM

All life on the planet? Where do you hear such foolishness? If all the nuclear bombs on earth go off at the same time it won't amount to small percentage of the havoc Mt Yellowstone will cause when it goes off. And that won't kill all life on the planet either.

Besides, I heard that global frickin warmin is gonna kill off all life on the planet.

And remember what we decided this morning-when the trolls get here - ignore them.

Posted by connfloyd on December 28, 2007 at 07:55 PM

connfloyd,

And it's that same kind of attitude that will keep some people from considering Hillary because she didn't throw out Bill. It makes no sense to me.

But then I don't care about what goes on inside other peoples' personal lives.

I do care whether our nominee can pull their weight getting other Democrats elected and then start delivering progressive changes quickly once in the Oval Office.

Time to start dinner.

there's a big difference in throwing out your old wife for a young one, and honoring your marriage commitment. That's what hillary has done and that's exactly what dodd hasn't.
So as far as im concerned Dodd is not any better than bill and Hillary is a whole lot better than both of them.
Afterall, her committment to her husband is honorable even if his isn't. But that's her bussiness.
If she can honor her original committment to bill after all the things he's done to her. I believe she'll honor her committment to me.
That committment to me is helping the middle class. She will do the best she can, but not everyone in washington is like her. The only committments they honor is the ones to themselves. I believe she'll fight for us with her last breath.
They don't make them like her everyday and we need to recognize and capitilize on her strength.
I

Hey Dan! Hey Harpo!

Here is an encore for Pammy:

So, John Edwards has been porkin a younger, prettier, non dumpy broad and now he has gotten her knocked up while his is dying.

Do you think that is helpful or hurtful to his campaign?

Hey Dan! Hey Harpo!

Here is an encore for Pammy:

So, John Edwards has been porkin a younger, prettier, non dumpy broad and now he has gotten her knocked up while his wife is dying.

Do you think that is helpful or hurtful to his campaign?

I see DoPeyD is playin around with names again. If he had a brain though he would state something remotely believable when he does that.

In the old days he would raise the ire of the queers here using fagotry as a pejorative, but we only have one queer left here, greggy, and he is still in the closet. He wears a disguise to gay pride day.

Remember what happened to the last former fatboy from Arkansas trying to be "cool" by liking music? I'll take "Stained Dresses" for $400, Alex.

The Lovely and Talented Ann Coulter

Thanks to the cheap bastard repukes that block universal health care, this young lady died.

CHEAP BASTARDS!GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) -- At 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan's funeral Friday, little was said about the insurance company that denied a potentially life-saving liver transplant and then reversed the decision hours before the girl died.
Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp. initially refused to approve a liver transplant, calling the surgery an experimental procedure that was not covered by the employer's benefit plan. Nataline was covered under the policy of her father, an automotive technician for Mercedez-Benz of Calabasas, said her father Krikor Sarkisyan.

Four doctors appealed to the insurer to reconsider in a Dec. 11 letter. The doctors said patients in similar situations who undergo transplants have a six-month survival rate of about 65 percent.

After a crowd of nurses, community members and family friends picketed outside Cigna's office in Glendale, the company reversed the decision. But by this time, it was too late and Nataline died.

Cigna, which has revealed little since Nataline's death, said Friday its role was to manage the employer's self-funded benefit plan. Under such arrangements, Cigna is paid an administrative fee to process claims and perform other duties on behalf of the employer, who carries the risk and pays for procedures.

In Nataline's case, Cigna determined the liver transplant was not covered under the employer's plan because it was considered experimental based on consultations with an in-house transplant expert and two independent doctors specializing in organ transplantation and leukemia.

Mourners attend funeral for teen who died during transplant delay

Hey, if you guys don't stop it, Spunky just might send you to Gitmo.

Several of you seem to have a striking resemblence to this dangerous terris...a big imagination and and an incredibly similar personality to Shemp Howard.

Australian Terrorism Detainee Leaves Prison By RAYMOND BONNER Published: December 29, 2007

SYDNEY, Australia — David Hicks, the only person sentenced by the military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try suspected terrorists, walked out of prison in Australia on Saturday morning after serving nine months for providing support to a terrorist organization.

Mr. Hicks, an Australian, had been detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for more than five years before his appearance before the military commission in March. In a plea bargain he acknowledged that prosecutors had evidence to prove he had been a trainee for Al Qaeda who was prepared to fight Americans.

The deal allowed him to serve the remainder of his sentence in Australia. He also agreed not to speak to the news media for one year.

In a statement read by his lawyer, David McCleod, Mr. Hicks said that he would honor the gag order.

Mr. Hicks also thanked the politicians and organizations that had supported him. “I will not let you down,” the statement said.

Mr. Hicks’s case has been highly politicized. After allowing Mr. Hicks to remain in detention for five years without any significant protest, Australia’s prime minister at the time, John Howard, came under domestic pressure to secure his release, or at least a trial. Mr. Howard made what was tantamount to such a demand on Vice President Dick Cheney when he came to Australia early this year. Formal charges and the plea bargain quickly followed...

ine.

...Australian intelligence and law enforcement officials have been divided over Mr. Hicks’s status. Senior officials in the country’s domestic intelligence agencies describe him as a committed terrorist. Law enforcement officials see him as a lost soul.

The latter was also the view of American military prosecutors.

Mr. Hicks’s life pattern was certainly that of a young man with a wanderlust in search of a purpose. He was kicked out of high school, worked in the Australian outback as a kangaroo skinner, had two children with an Aboriginal woman, then went off to Japan to train horses in 2000.

While there, he was captivated by reports from Bosnia, and went off to join the Kosovo Liberation Army. The war ended before Mr. Hicks could engage in any combat. He went back to Adelaide, and tried to join the Australian Army, but was rejected. On the spiritual side, he tried an evangelical Christian church, but found it wanting. He started going to a mosque.

Eventually, he went off to Pakistan, filled with romantic notions of riding the Silk Road on horseback, he told his parents. But still filled with a military desire, he joined Lashkar-e-Taiba, the guerrilla group run by Pakistan intelligence for the war against India in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

He then made his way to Afghanistan, where Lashkar-e-Taiba had training camps in affiliation with Al Qaeda. After the United States began the war against the Taliban in October 2001, Mr. Hicks was captured by the Northern Alliance, which was fighting with the Americans against the Taliban, and was turned over to the United States military for a bounty of several thousand dollars...

www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/world/asia/29hicks.html?_r=2&ref=world&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

(Bold mine.)

This is the sort of terror threat that we had to use waterboarding to break? This is the sort of terrorist that is lurking behind every Bush and why our troops must stay in Iraq for generations?

And this misguided buffoon and others like him is why the GOP neocons created a War on Terror that has destroyed our national reputation, weakened our military institution, and bankrupted our Treasury?

Our CIA could have taken out this army of terris with one arm behind their backs. Our special opps could have nabbed Bin Lauden in no time with these hopeless recruits guarding him...if Bush hadn't hired the back-stabbing Afgani war lords instead.

Why do the Republicans always place their trust in unscrupulous people like Musharraf...and attack people who are no real threat to anybody like the Iraqi people?

In Nataline's case, Cigna determined the liver transplant was not covered under the employer's plan because it was considered experimentalbased on consultations with an in-house transplant expert and two independent doctors specializing in organ transplantation and leukemia.

Posted by Johnedwrd on December 28, 2007 at 10:08 PM

(Bold mine.)

John,

Those are the words the HMOs always use to get around providing care...and they are always the kiss of death.

Now how long have they been conducting liver transplants? The doctors were going to put the donner liver in sideways or use a different drug?

Doesn't matter. The result is the same. A young girl died not because a surgical procedure could be considered experimental but because it would cut into bottom line profits and hurt shareholder return.

Here we have have yet another example of compassionate conservative Christianity at work in modern day American society. The Reagan revolution takes another victim.

Here is one for Pat Robertson and Mike Huckabee...

Op-Ed Contributor A Colony With a Conscience By KENNETH T. JACKSON Published: December 27, 2007

THREE hundred and fifty years ago today, religious freedom was born on this continent. Yes, 350 years. Religious tolerance did not begin with the Bill of Rights or with Jefferson’s Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom in 1786. With due respect to Roger Williams and his early experiment with “liberty of conscience” in Rhode Island, this republic really owes its enduring strength to a fragile, scorched and little-known document that was signed by some 30 ordinary citizens on Dec. 27, 1657...

...The Flushing Remonstrance was remarkable for four reasons.

First, it articulated a fundamental right that is as basic to American freedom as any we hold dear.

Second, the authors backed up their words with actions — they did not whisper their opposition among themselves or protest in silence. Rather, they signed the document and sent it to the most powerful official in the colony, a man not known for toleration or for an easygoing or gracious manner.

Third, they stood up for others; none of the signers was himself a Quaker. The Flushing citizens were articulating a principle that was of little discernible benefit to themselves.

And fourth, like all great documents, the language of the remonstrance is as beautiful as the sentiments they express. “If any of these said persons come in love unto us, we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egress and regress unto our town,” its authors wrote in the conclusion. “For we are bound by the law of God and man to do good unto all men and evil to no man.”

www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/opinion/27jackson.html?th&emc=th

(Bold mine.)

Eloquent in its simplicity and truth.

Good night, all.

Why don't you reptiles go spread your christmas cheer on your own networks. You know the one the ones of the evangelical like the queer in colorado. i am sure Jesus would like to read what you say on here.
Isn't it you guys that say you've got Jesus on your side. Geez, I wonder what he would say about these posts.
A few Jesus quotes," Why do you look at the speck in your brothers eye, when you have a timber in yours. Give us a New Years present and get the Hell off here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get off of my blog cornfed, I have been here longer than anybody. Even longer than PamB.

I wonder if Domingo still copies saves the open blog here everyday. He probably quit doing that when I ran him out of here.

We used to get 3000 posts per day here and now only a couple hundred. Most have deserted our blog. I have remained faithfully here though.

Tomorrow (9/16) at 1:00 eastern time and 11:00 pacific, ABC will rebroadcast a remarkable program first aired this morning. Peter Jennings and others talk with a number of children of various ages and ethnic backgrounds about their fears, concerns, and experiences arising from the events of Tuesday, September the 11th. The depth of honesty, compassion, sensitivity, and understanding of these children was, to say the least, moving. I heartedly urge not missing the opportunity to view this wonderful program. The child you used to be will thank you.

A considerably more odious reality is one I've been concerned about since shortly following the bombing. My fear was that persons of a
particular persuasion might seize upon this situation as an opportunity to label as 'unamerican' those whos ideas and beliefs differ from their own, those who may out of conscience question established order, those who may actively oppose actions and activities they perceive as wrongs, and those who insist their own personal spirit remain unfettered.
Obviously if we are to be at all secure, certain 'freedoms' will of necessity be limited. The extent to which these limits are apparent to uswill gauge the measure of success or failure of our government's actions. We should, however, vigorously oppose any and all attempts to limit our constitutional rights, our self-determination, and our choice to live our
respective lives as we see fit. Freely living one's chosen life is the only 'litmus' test of being an American. Living free means the terrorists and those who will define us in 'their' image have failed.

As evidence of the fact that we should be concerned about attempts to assault our rights as individuals, I present the following: Jerry Falwell speaking with Pat Robertson about causes of the terrorist's act.

"Throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools," he said. "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. "The pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America," Falwell continued, "I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"
"Well, I totally concur," responded Robertson.

The fascist rethuglicans who say it's ok to relinquish our freedoms in our fight against terrorism do so not from some sense of fear so much as from a deep seated dark and ugly hate for everyone other than themselves. That anything remotely similar to forgiveness will be afforded them by humans or otherwise is highly unlikely.

Birdman caught me on his property
He saw me trespassing his real estate
He reached into his pocket for a pistol
He came after me and pistol-whipped my behind

Birdman kicked my ass
Birdman kicked my ass
Birdman kicked my ass
Birdman kicked my ass

Birdman beat me to a pulp
He gave me a yell-down war hell ride
He told me that he was going to kill me if I don't get off is real estate
He gave five minutes to get in my Bronco and hit the rookie road

Birdman kicked my ass
Birdman kicked my ass
Birdman kicked my ass
Birdman kicked my ass

At 10:00 PM, I drove my Bronco back to Birdman's real estate
I jumped over his fence after dark
I picked up a brick and shattered Birdman's window pane
Birdman sighted me doing it and reached for his pistol
Suddenly, I jumped back in my Bronco and took off like O. J. Simpson

Birdman kicked my ass
Birdman kicked my ass
Birdman kicked my ass
Birdman kicked my ass

Heinz, it's America's favorite ketchup

-Wesley Willis

Ah so, Democracy Now! earlier:

TARIQ ALI: Her father was probably the most popular politician in Pakistan, pledging massive social reforms. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had been elected in the 1970 elections, had won a large majority in the country that we now know as Pakistan and had been elected on a very radical platform. He came to power.

He implemented some of his reforms, not all, became extremely autocratic, clashed with the United States on a number of issues, including Pakistan’s right to have nuclear weapons. Henry Kissinger warned him in private that if you do not desist on the nuclear issue, we will make a terrible example out of you. That’s what Bhutto wrote from his death cell. The United States organized a military coup d’etat. General Zia-ul-Haq took power in 1977, organized a trial against Bhutto, charging him with an absurd charge of murdering someone. The judges were pressured, and they found him guilty, and Bhutto was hanged in April 1979. It could not have happened without US support and approval, because Zia was a nobody, and Washington clearly green-lighted the murder.

And Bhutto, from his death cell, wrote a very moving document called “If I Am Assassinated,” in which he said there are two hegemonies—these are his words. He said, “There are two hegemonies that dominate our country. One is an internal hegemony, and the other is an external hegemony. And unless we challenge the external hegemony, we will never be able to deal with the internal one,” meaning Washington is the external hegemony and the army is the internal one. And this is a problem which still haunts Pakistan and which, I have to say, has now created this new crisis.

And unfortunately, his daughter decided to collaborate with both of these hegemonies. One has to say this. Her second period in office was a total disaster, because not only did she do nothing for the poor or her natural constituency, but basically it became an extremely corrupt government, and she and her husband accumulated $1.5 billion through corruption. This is well known to everyone.

Now, when the United States decided they wanted to put her back in there, they told her, we are going to whitewash you so clean no one will even know. And this is what the global media and networks have been doing. Look, I knew her well. I’m very upset that she’s dead. But the piety being displayed on the global media networks is beyond belief. You know, it’s as if there’s no past, no history in this country or its politicians.

www.democracynow.org/2007/12/28/pakistan_in_turmoil_after_benazir_bhuttos

D Now! a little later:

TARIQ ALI: Well, this is totally true, and why are they surprised? It’s been happening for years. You know, I remember during the war in Afghanistan when the Russians were there in the ’80s. The United States, you know, sent billions into Pakistan in both money and weapons, including very advanced weapons, to help the Pakistan army and the Jihadi groups fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. And the same thing was happening: weapons were being sold on the open market, weapons money was being diverted. And when the Pentagon sent in its auditors to check what was happening to the money, one of the largest arms dumps, where a lot of American equipment was stored, suddenly blew up the day before the team delegation arrived from the United States in Ojri. I happened to be in the country then, and the blast was heard all over the city. So that is what they do. So no one should be surprised that this is what is being done.

I mean, essentially, the Pakistani—or sections inside the Pakistani military have never got used to the idea that they are no longer strong in Afghanistan, that they no longer control Kabul, and they believe that after NATO leaves, they’ll take it back. And for the United States, the choice is either to use the Pakistan army as a cop to control Afghanistan or to fix a regional deal so that Afghanistan’s stability is guaranteed by Russia, Iran, India and Pakistan. That is the way to go, not deal unilaterally with the Pakistani military. But no one is listening in Washington, because they’re completely visionless at the moment. So the fact that these billions have been spent to provide security to fight one particular enemy and now being used to shore up the country against another supposed enemy shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. That’s how things happen there.
****

Ah, so, those were our Jihadis back then. That was our terrorist state, when we could use them, financial help from the Saudis, to do Russia mischief.

And then abandon them in Afganistan with all those weapons and bucks, hoping the blowback attack on the US comes. Then we have the near-perfect enemy, Pearl Harbor moment, for the war machine to pretend to fight, forever. Amen.

God had better Bless America, or else we'll be calling it The Fatherland before you know it. And bowing down to Big Brother, just as our tormentors in training practice.

Dem Now! a little later still:

TARIQ ALI: Well, I think, you know, the significance of this is that the United States refuses to understand that there is a big political problem which cannot be dealt with militarily. And that political problem can be summed up as follows, that the people of Afghanistan—like it or dislike it—do not like being occupied by foreign powers. They didn’t like being occupied by the Russians, and they don’t like being occupied by the United States and the NATO armies in their country. And as long as this foreign occupation lasts, there will be, you know, forms of resistance against it.

Now, this crisis and instability in Afghanistan is seeping across the border into northwestern Pakistan. Pakistan is, you know, sending troops to fight some of the people who come over the border, some who belong to Pakistan, who are fighting against NATO. They order their soldiers to kill, and Pakistani soldiers are refusing to open fire. That is essentially what’s going on.

And the reason they’re refusing to open fire is because for the last twenty-five years this ideology implanted in their heads when they’re being trained to be soldiers in the Pakistan army is that your enemy is the Hindu. Your enemy is India. Your enemy is the traditional enemy of Pakistan and of Muslims, and these are the people you’ll be fighting. This is what they’ve been led to believe.

Now they are being told that your enemies are other Muslims from a neighboring Muslim country, and so there’s a massive crisis, a big psychological crisis, for lots of soldiers who are not fighting. In fact, you often read in the Pakistani press reports—twenty soldiers surrender, fifty soldiers surrender. And they are surrendering to groups of four or five armed Taliban or, you know, non-Taliban fighters from Afghanistan. This is impossible to understand, except in political terms.

So training more specialized troops isn’t going to do the trick, if there’s this basic problem, which is, as Juan was asking earlier, when you have some of these opinion polls, the reason people say that if there’s a choice between Bush and bin Laden, they’ll back bin Laden, or between—it’s not because they’re extremists in that sense, but they don’t like the fact that Pakistan is totally on its knees as a state before Washington and the United States. It doesn’t argue with them. It doesn’t resist them on any level at all. So the fact that it’s independent is neither here nor there. So sending in more US troops is actually going to make things much, much worse for pro-US politicians in that country. And they should be prepared for that.

A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers' blood.
A finger fired the trigger to his name.
A handle hid out in the dark
A hand set the spark
Two eyes took the aim
Behind a man's brain
But he can't be blamed
He's only a pawn in their game.

A South politician preaches to the poor white man,
"You got more than the blacks, don't complain.
You're better than them, you been born with white skin," they explain.
And the Negro's name
Is used it is plain
For the politician's gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.

The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid,
And the marshals and cops get the same,
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool.
He's taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
'Bout the shape that he's in
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.

From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks,
And the hoof beats pound in his brain.
And he's taught how to walk in a pack
Shoot in the back
With his fist in a clinch
To hang and to lynch
To hide 'neath the hood
To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain't got no name
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.

Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught.
They lowered him down as a king.
But when the shadowy sun sets on the one
That fired the gun
He'll see by his grave
On the stone that remains
Carved next to his name
His epitaph plain:
Only a pawn in their game.

-Bob Dylan

This is not a poetry site. Poetry sucks. Poetry is for fairies.

Reagan FAILED. All his policies have failed.
Funny to see Repugs wanting to be like Reagan.
Clinton/Gore had much better results.

Elect a pansy like Carter and you will get a great President like Reagan to replace him. Without Carter there would have been no President Reagan. The US may need to elect another pansy this time in order to get back to a Reagan. An Edwards, Hussein Bin Obama or Hillary Presidency ought to do it. Hillary might not turn out to be a pansy though, as a broad and a lesbo she might feel compelled to prove how tough she is.

Posted by TomN on December 29, 2007 at 01:31 AM
Some really good posts tonight Tom, thank you. Real scary stuff though, looks like our country is over the edge.

Here we go again... Frosty wants to get all macho in cyber space. He definitely wants to be top man. He's so "magnificent." Looks like we have a person with a "complex issue."

Frosty the Ho Man was trolly old ham,
with a mouse in his hand,
and bologna in his pan,
he acted like he was a macho man.

These are dangerous times to elect a pansy though.

Good evening Big Dog

Shut up Robert.

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 03:22 AM....I did nor realize that you are running for office.......

Hey Tom and Goodfoe,
I went to bed early and I'm up. Too early for breakfast.
Looks like a troll wants to be macho. (Village People plays.)
Don't the log cabin republicans have a bb?
It appears he's afraid and hiding from Pam.

It appears that Obama did not take a stand on "controversial" votes in the State Senate. He voted present. He was in the majority, so what's the deal? I think he lacks courage and integrity. He's like Frosty the he-man woman hater.

Old Frosty loved the Ghoul until the Ghoul started slipping in the polls and making all those goofy statements. I wonder if the Ghould's prostate cancer is back and has spread to his brain which would account for some of the wondering, incoherent statements he's made lately. Since Frosty no longer loves the Ghoul, he now hopes that the Republicans will be dead locked at their convention and that Allen the racist or Santorum the abuser will be nominated from the floor. Good luck on that Frosty, Huckabee is your new man!

He's like Frosty the he-man woman hater.

Posted by Big_Yellow_Dog on December 29, 2007 at 03:33 AM

I don't hate women - you must be thinking of greggy. I don't even hate fat chicks, I just leave them for someone else to enjoy.

The problem with the Huckster is that if you listen to him try to talk on the issues, he does not have any depth of knowledge. Listening to him is like taking a trip to "vacant village", there's nothing there!

He doesn't know who I am. That's okay.
Too bad he doesn't know who he is... like Larry Craig... without the wife. I suppose he knows we will accept him for who he is.
He's "macho, macho man, he's got to be a macho man."
I'm pretty sure the guys in the log cabin chat room would find him TRULY "magnificent."

Now to keep us on topic...

Republicans have screwed this country up AGAIN.
They've made China stronger, and America weaker.

Most Americans know that Clinton/Gore did MUCH better than Bush/Cheney. The only people Bush still has is the anti-Constitution religious fundamentalist chicken-hawk nut cases.

Posted by goodfool on December 29, 2007 at 03:38 AM

Giuliani was never my guy goodfool. My guys aren't even in the race except for Duncan Hunter. Allen or Santorum would be excellent candidates though.

Bring on the HUCKSTER PREACHER! HAHAHA!

Huckleberry is not going to be the candidate. Get real - sheesh.

The Republicans will do what they always do. They will choose the guy whose turn it is. And it is John McCain's turn. Certainly not my first choice but if he chooses an acceptable VP and then dies of old age, I would be cool with that.

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 03:48 AM.....Oh, there you are "sweet cheeks"! I was afraid you had left again! I was worried it might have been something I said.....

It appears that Obama did not take a stand on "controversial" votes in the State Senate. He voted present. He was in the majority, so what's the deal? I think he lacks courage and integrity. He's like Frosty the he-man woman hater.

Posted by Big_Yellow_Dog on December 29, 2007 at 03:33 AM.....What is going on with Obama?....What he is doing looks bad.....

Allen and Santorum. They are real macho men. No wonder they appeal to you. Too bad for "the Macaca moment."

Allen and Santorum... no wonder he's jealous. His candidates are losers. We shouldn't be surprised that Frosty is out of touch with real American states like PA and VA.

That was cool for Sen Webb to open the Senate again so Bush can't make a recess appointment. Even Webb, a Reagan military appointee has jumped ship from the Republicans. HAHAHA.

Giuliani was never my guy goodfool. My guys aren't even in the race except for Duncan Hunter. Allen or Santorum would be excellent candidates though.

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 03:48 AM......Oh you of such short memory!.....it was recently that you said either Mitt or Rudy would suit you just fine......Now that Rudy has descended into gibberish land, you are abandoning him and throwing him under the bus! Such loyalty!

Posted by Big_Yellow_Dog on December 29, 2007 at 03:59 AM

You are an asshat Robert and thus not worth responding too.

I respond to Dopyfoe sometimes, though he is devious and untrustworthy.

Obama knows he can't win against more experienced Democrats, so he's tearing down Democrats knowing that he can look independent, and then get together with Bloomberg.

It appears he was not even a strong Democrat in the Democratic controlled State Senate. He's a trader. Democrats are starting to hate him... even nice old ladies I know.

They will suit me fine verses Hillary, Huesein Bin Obama or Edwards. But I would not have high expectations for them should they win. They trend towards the liberal side and that is not good.

Posted by Big_Yellow_Dog on December 29, 2007 at 04:07 AM.....I hate to see it, but it sure does look that way......Oh, sorry Frosty, I forgot that you're here....you can leave now.....

Everybody will know it's time for someone like Edwards to lead America. It's time to take on Republican-Corporate powers that sold America out to China.

Edwards is right. Republicans neglected education and health care, and now America is paying the price. Looks like Edwards is stronger than the Corporate-owned media is reporting.

http://johnedwards.com/

Oh, sorry Frosty, I forgot that you're here....you can leave now.....

Posted by goodfoe on December 29, 2007 at 04:13 AM

They told me that 4 and a quarter years ago. Of couse it was a different group the what with all them having flaked outa here on accounta the "trolls".

Tee hee hee and a ha ha ha

Oh, sorry Frosty, I forgot that you're here....you can leave now.....

Posted by goodfoe on December 29, 2007 at 04:13 AM

They told me that 4 and a quarter years ago. Of couse it was a different group then what with all them having flaked outa here on accounta the "trolls".

Tee hee hee and a ha ha ha

Yes, Edwards is going to come on strong Dog. The Reptiles fear him, that is why the media is not reporting, they don't want to give him the exposure. BTW, with Bushwacker doing the veto thing on the defense bill, who's not supporting the troops now?

I bet those Christians will love the idea of two Mormans controlling the Senate and the WH. HAHAHA.

Maybe they can move Washington to Missouri, the Morman's biblical Garden of Eden. No wonder the Baptists consider it a cult.

I'm sure they will come out in full force to vote for a Pagan Nation.

Frosty, I saw where some little cow girl from the Valley was posting yesterday morning. You buddy Harpo came on line, made one post and she told him he was a big, fat, stinking cow turd. Didn't take her long to figure him out. Hee Hee Ha Ha, Frosty and the trolls gatta go!

They didn't flake out on accounta the "trolls" being annoying. The flaked out on accounta the trolls being correct all the time.

Liberalism is foolishness, conservatism is common sense. The people vote for common sense when presented properly. Liberals win by faking conservatism as Clinton did. Or as Jesse Ventura did in Minnesota. Or as how the Democrats retook the Senate and House last time. They didn't win by espousing liberal dogma. They won by running to the right of there opponents.

That's why Pelosi has no control of the House.

That's funny because the "trolls" are one person. Good thing he's here so we can show how stupid Republicans are.

He shows us why Rush doesn't take Democratic callers... because he can't handle the facts, and we'd show him how stupid he is.

FYI, Global Warming is well documented.
ONLY the FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY HACKS deny the science.

No wonder the Republicans are so weak with younger voters who understand science. Nobody wants stone-age policy makers. And trashing the Constitution is not good either.

I bet those Christians will love the idea of two Mormans controlling the Senate and the WH. HAHAHA.
Mitt is not going to get the Reptile nomination, he's sinking faster than the Titanic. And knows it. They have to nominate the Huckster to try and bring their base together. If they nominate McCain and Edwards is our nominee, most of the Republican Christians will vote for Edwards.

Frosty, I saw where some little cow girl from the Valley was posting yesterday morning. You buddy Harpo came on line, made one post and she told him he was a big, fat, stinking cow turd. Didn't take her long to figure him out. Hee Hee Ha Ha, Frosty and the trolls gatta go!

Posted by goodfoe on December 29, 2007 at 04:26 AM

That was Dawnie pretending to by a cowgirl dumbshit. Sheesh

"No control." HA. NO Speaker has done more in less time:

The 110th Congress is making progress for the American people on the toughest challenges we face—working together to defend our country, restore accountability, grow our economy, strengthen our families, and preserve our planet.

Since January, more than 130 key measures have passed the House, with nearly 70 percent receiving significant bipartisan support. In critical instances, the President and his Republican allies in Congress have stubbornly stood in the way of progress with six vetoes and 41 vetoes threatened.
The New Direction Congress is working to change course in Iraq. This war, now into its fifth year, has not made America safer, even as our troops have bravely performed their duties. This Congress continues to demand that President Bush and the Administration be held accountable, that the Iraqi government take responsibility for its own country, and that we responsibly bring this war to an end.
The New Direction Congress is protecting America—acting to finally make the work of the independent 9/11 Commission the law of the land. We are rebuilding our military readiness and requiring that we re-engage our diplomatic allies. We are honoring our troops and veterans with pay, services, and care they deserve. We are declaring our energy independence and working to reverse global warming.

The New Direction Congress is providing the keys to the American dream—investing in American ingenuity and innovation. We are working to bring quality health care to every American child, and every child to school ready to learn. We are making America’s rural heartland a key to America’s future economic and energy security. We have changed the way we do business in Washington by restoring fiscal responsibility, government transparency, and the highest ethical standards to Congress.

These are the first of many steps in a New Direction for a stronger and more secure America. Learn more about the legislation of the 110th Congress:

Defending our Country

Growing our Economy

Caring for our Children and Families

Protecting our Planet

Restoring Accountability

DEFENDING OUR COUNTRY

Implementing 9/11 Commission's Recommendations - H.R. 1
This legislation provides for the implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations. The bill’s provisions include major improvements in aviation security, border security, and infrastructure security; providing first responders the equipment and training they need; beefing up efforts to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction; and significantly expanding diplomatic, economic, educational, and other strategies designed to counter Islamic terrorism.
Status: Passed January 9, 2007
Final House-Senate version passed by the House on July 27, 2007
Signed into law by the President on August 3, 2007
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Concurrent Resolution on the President's Escalation Plan - H.RES.63
This resolution disapproves of the decision of the President announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq. It further resolves that Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq.
Status: Passed February 16, 2007
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Foreign Investment and National Security Act - H.R. 556
This bill strengthens national security by reforming the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) process by which the Federal Government reviews foreign investments in the United States for their national security implications.
Status: Passed February 28, 2007
Final House-Senate version passed by the House on July 11, 2007
Signed into law by the President on July 26, 2007
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U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act
Had it not been vetoed by the President, this bill would have supported our troops and veterans, held the Bush Administration and Iraqi government accountable, and brought our soldiers home by August 2008 or sooner. It would have expanded funding for veterans’ health care and hospitals and refocused military efforts on Afghanistan and fighting terrorism.
Status: Passed March 23, 2007
Vetoed by the President May 1, 2007
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Rail and Mass Transit Security Act - H.R. 1401
This legislation is designed to close the security gaps facing rail and mass transit and includes provisions on issues such as training, grants, security planning, research and development, and shipments of sensitive materials.
Status: Passed March 26, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Wounded Warrior Assistance Act - H.R. 1538
This bill responds to the problems brought to light at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military health care facilities. It includes provisions to improve the access to quality medical care for wounded service members who are outpatients at military health care facilities, begin the process of restoring the integrity and efficiency of the disability evaluation system, and improve the transition of wounded service members from the Armed Forces to the VA system.
Status: Passed March 28, 2007
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FY 2008 Homeland Security Authorization - H.R. 1684
This legislation authorizes $39.8 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security in fiscal year 2008. Because the President has been submitting budgets that underfunded key homeland security priorities over the last few years, this bill is authorizing $2.1 billion more than the President requested.
Status: Passed May 9, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Revised Version of the FY 2007 Supplemental Funding Bill - H.R. 2206
This bill is a revised version of the FY 2007 Supplemental, which fails to include the tough provisions holding the Iraqi government accountable and providing a responsible timetable for the redeployment of U.S. troops contained in the earlier version. However, in this bill, the President was forced to abandon his threat to veto any bill containing accountability – agreeing to 18 benchmarks and a potential cut-off of reconstruction aid if progress is not made toward meeting them. The measure also includes a minimum wage increase, children’s health care, and other important domestic priorities.
Status: Passed May 10, 2007
Signed into the law by the President on May 25, 2007
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FY 2008 Intelligence Authorization Bill - H.R. 2082
This legislation will make new investments in intelligence personnel and enhance oversight of how intelligence is carried out. It authorizes intelligence funding for all U.S. intelligence agencies, including our military intelligence organizations.
Status: Passed May 11, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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FY 2008 Defense Authorization Bill - H.R. 1585
This legislation will provide the necessary resources and authorities to quickly and efficiently reverse declining trends in training and equipment readiness, and will also provide our service members doing their duty overseas in multiple wars with the best gear and force protection possible. Under the bill, our troops will get better health care, better pay, and the benefits they have earned.
Status: Passed May 17, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Veterans Bills
These 6 bills support our veterans and honor their sacrifices, providing them with expanded health care and the benefits they deserve.

The Veterans Outreach and Improvement Act of 2007, H.R. 67, would improve outreach activities of the Department of Veterans Affairs. It allows the VA to partner with state and local governments to reach out to veterans and their families in ensuring they receive the benefits for which they are eligible and assist them in completing their benefits claims.

The Returning Servicemember VA Healthcare Insurance Act of 2007, H.R. 612, extends the period of eligibility for health care for combat service in the Persian Gulf or future hostilities from two years to five years after discharge or release.

The Traumatic Brain Injury Health Enhancement and Long-Term Support Act of 2007, H.R. 2199, ensures that our veterans are properly screened for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI, the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) and, if diagnosed, receive the appropriate treatment.

The Early Access to Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Benefits Act, H.R. 2239, expands eligibility for vocational rehabilitation benefits for severely injured service members undergoing long-term care and recovery. It makes it easier for injured veterans with service-connected disabilities by allowing the Veterans’ Administration’s vocational rehabilitation and employment (VR&E) benefits to be received before discharge.

The Chiropractic Care Available to All Veterans Act, H.R. 1470, requires the provision of chiropractic care and services to veterans at all Department of Veterans Affairs medical center.

H.R. 1660 would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national cemetery for veterans in the Southern Colorado region.

Status: Passed May 23, 2007
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The Afghanistan Freedom and Security Support Act - H.R. 2446
This legislation will fund development, economic and security assistance programs, and establishment of a coordinator to tackle the growing threat of narcotics in Afghanistan. The bill renews a 2002 Afghanistan authorization and provides additional support for programs as diverse as assistance to women and girls, energy development and counter-narcotics. This bill represents the United States’ commitment to achieving long-term stability and security in Afghanistan.
Status: Passed June 6, 2007
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Homeland Security Appropriations - H.R. 2638
This legislation funds 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents, provides first responders with the equipment and training they need, and provides tougher aviation and port security.
Status: Passed June 15, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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International Nuclear Fuel for Peace Nonproliferation Act - H.R. 885
This legislation supports the creation of an international nuclear fuel bank so that any country seeking to develop peaceful nuclear power-producing capability will not have to enrich uranium. This bank will make sure that any state that keeps its nuclear nonproliferation commitments can get the fuel it needs without establishing its own fuel production facilities.
Status: Passed June 18, 2007
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State-Foreign Operations Appropriations - H.R. 2764
This legislation supports our allies in the campaign against terrorism, including providing more than $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan; and promotes global stability by strengthening development assistance and addressing humanitarian crises such as the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and Darfur.
Status: Passed June 22, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Collective Bargaining for Public Safety Personnel - H.R. 980
This legislation would provide firefighters and police officers with basic workplace collective bargaining rights. In the post-9/11 era of protecting America from terrorism, in which we are asking our police officers, firefighters, and other public safety officers to take on even more responsibilities than they had before, the least we can do is ensure that they have basic rights to seek better wages and benefits.
Status: Passed July 17, 2007
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Banning Permanent U.S. Bases in Iraq - H.R. 2929
This legislation states that it is the policy of the United States not to establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing a permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq. It also states that it is the policy of the United States not to exercise U.S. control of the oil resources of Iraq. The measure bars the use of any funds provided by any law from being used to carry out any policy that contradicts these statements of policy.
Status: Passed July 25, 2007
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Iran Sanctions Enabling - H.R. 2347
This legislation empowers Americans to apply economic pressure on the Iranian regime by establishing a federal list of entities that invest in Iran and allowing for divestment. As Iran continues to threaten regional stability and international security by pursuing a nuclear program, rattling sabers at its neighbors – especially Israel – and supporting terrorist groups funded by its energy sector, this bill will enable investors and state and local governments to ensure they are not invested in companies that support Iran’s oil and gas industry.
Status: Passed July 31, 2007
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Ensuring Military Readiness Through Stability and Predictability Deployment Policy Act - H.R. 3159
This bill would require active duty forces to be guaranteed that their time at home match the length of their deployment. National Guard and reservists would be home for three times the length of the deployments. The bill would allow the President to waive these requirements to meet the national security needs of the country, and allow Service Chiefs of Staff to allow for the voluntary mobilization of members. These requirements would apply to those serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Status: Passed August 2, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act - H.R. 4299
This revised bill extends the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for 7 years. TRIA provides a federal backstop to the insurance industry by providing compensation for a portion of insured losses resulting from acts certified by the government as acts of terrorism.
Status: Passed September 19, 2007
Revised version passed by the House on December 12, 2007
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Contingency Planning for Redeployment from Iraq - H.R. 3087
This bill requires the Department of Defense, within 60 days, to submit a report on the status of planning for redeployment from Iraq to the congressional defense committees, with updated reports every 90 days thereafter.
Status: Passed October 2, 2007
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Accountability for Crimes Committed by Overseas Contractors - H.R. 2740
This bill is designed to ensure that all private security contractors in war zones overseas will be held accountable for any criminal behavior. Currently, there is only clear jurisdiction of the U.S. courts over those contractors who are on contract with the Department of Defense. Following are highlights of some of the bill’s provisions.
Status: Passed October 4, 2007
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The War Profiteering Prevention Act - H.R. 400
This legislation creates a new federal criminal fraud offense to prohibit fraudulent acts involving the provision of goods or services in connection with a mission of the U.S. government overseas. Following are highlights of some of the bill’s provisions.
Status: Passed October 9, 2007
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Iraqi Corruption - H.Res. 734
This legislation raises objections to the Administration’s withholding of information relating to corruption in Iraq. The American people and Congress deserve honest answers about the extent of corruption in the Iraqi government and whether corruption is fueling the insurgency and endangering our troops.
Status: Passed October 16, 2007
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Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act - H.R. 1955
This bill is designed to take steps to better understand violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in order to prevent them.
Status: Passed October 23, 2007
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Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act - H.R. 327
This legislation directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop and implement a comprehensive program to reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans. The bill is named for an Iraq veteran who took his own life, and recognizes the special needs of veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and elderly veterans who are at high risk for depression and experience high rates of suicide.
Status: Passed October 23, 2007
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The Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act, H.R. 4156
The American people continue to demand a New Direction in Iraq. This war – now lasting nearly five years, longer than World War II – has cost Americans too much, in terms of lives, dollars, and our reputation around the world. This legislation will change the direction of President Bush’s failed Iraqi policy: require the President to redeploy our troops, while providing our troops in harm’s way with the resources they need.
Status: Passed November 14, 2007
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Defense Authorization for FY 2008 - H.R. 1585
This measure will provide the necessary resources and authorities to quickly and efficiently reverse declining trends in military readiness, and will also provide our service members in harm’s way with the best gear and force protection possible. Under the conference report, our troops will get better health care, better pay, and the benefits they have earned.
Status: Passed December 12, 2007
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Intelligence Authorization for FY 2008 - H.R. 2082
The bill authorizes the largest amount for intelligence programs ever authorized - containing numerous provisions to improve the effectiveness of intelligence programs and agencies. It also includes an amendment that extends to U.S. intelligence agencies and personnel the current prohibitions in the Army Field Manual against torture.
Status: Passed December 13, 2007
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GROWING OUR ECONOMY

Raising the Minimum Wage - H.R. 2
This bill increases the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years. Increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour brings a pay raise for up to 13 million Americans.
Status: Passed January 10, 2007
The President signed into law on May 25 as part of the revised 2007 supplemental funding bill, H.R. 2206
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Employee Free Choice Act - H.R. 800
The Employee Free Choice Act will restore workers’ rights by removing obstacles that prevent workers from choosing whether or not they want to form or join a union.
Status: Passed March 1, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act – H.R. 362
This legislation ensures that our teachers are equipped to adequately prepare the workforce of tomorrow in science, math, and technology. It invests in new teachers through professional development, summer training institutes, graduate education assistance, and scholarships.
Status: Passed April 24, 2007
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Sowing the Seeds Through Science and Engineering Research Act – H.R. 363
This act encourages scientists by providing grants in the early stages of their careers, supporting recruiting and training young scientists and engineers.
Status: Passed April 24, 2007
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Small Business Lending Improvement Act – H.R. 1332
This legislation provides small businesses with the access to capital they need to start and expand their businesses.
Status: Passed April 25, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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National Science Foundation Authorization Act – H.R. 1867
This legislation puts us on a path to doubling funding for the National Science Foundation’s research over the next 10 years, and encourages young scientists and researchers.
Status: Passed May 2, 2007
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Technology Innovation and Manufacturing Stimulation Act – H.R. 1868
This legislation is the first full reauthorization of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology since 1991, authorizing $2.5 billion for fiscal year 2008-2010.
Status: Passed May 3, 2007
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Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act - H.R. 1873
This legislation will put small businesses on a level playing field with big corporations by increasing their access to federal contracts. It will require the Small Business Administration to reach out to small businesses regarding opportunities for earning government contracts, and mandate stricter oversight of government agencies to ensure they are making progress in awarding contracts to small businesses.
Status: Passed May 10, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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America COMPETES Act: The Innovation Agenda – H.R. 2272
This bill is made up of five Innovation Agenda bills that have been passed by the House. They were combined into one bill to prepare to go to conference with the Senate, which passed an omnibus innovation and competitiveness bill (S. 761) on April 25.

On August 2nd, the House passed the final House-Senate agreeement on H.R. 2272. This legislation is the culmination of a year and a half-long, bipartisan effort to pass an Innovation Agenda that boldly responds to the global economic challenges identified in the 2005 National Academies report, Rising above the Gathering Storm. It ensures American students, teachers, businesses, and workers are prepared to continue leading the world in innovation, research, and technology well into the future.

H.R. 2272 combined the following five bills:

The 10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act, H.R. 362

The Sowing the Seeds Through Science and Engineering Research Act, H.R. 363

The National Science Foundation Authorization Act, H.R. 1867

The Technology Innovation and Manufacturing Stimulation Act, H.R. 1868

The Amending High-Performance Computing Act, H.R. 1068

Status: Passed the House May 21, 2007
Final House-Senate agreement passed the House August 2, 2007
Signed into law by the President on August 9, 2007
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The No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) Act - H.R. 2264
This legislation enables the Department of Justice to take legal action against foreign nations for participating in oil cartels that drive up oil prices globally and in the United States. It does so by exempting OPEC and other nations from the provisions of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act when acting in a commercial capacity; by making clear that the so-called “Act of State” doctrine does not prevent courts from ruling on antitrust charges brought against foreign governments; and by authorizing the Department of Justice to bring lawsuits in U.S. courts against cartel members.
Status: Passed May 23, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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The Energy Price Gouging Act – H.R. 1252
This legislation will reduce the burden of rising gas prices on American families, providing immediate relief to consumers by giving the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the authority to investigate and punish those who artificially inflate the price of energy. It ensures the federal government has the tools it needs to adequately respond to energy emergencies and prohibit price gouging – with a priority on refineries and big oil companies.
Status: Passed May 24, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Small Business Bills
During the week of June 18th, the House passed a package of bills that strengthen the Small Business Administration and help grow America’s businesses and economy. These bills also assist veterans and women, and encourage Native American entrepreneurs. They are:

The SBA Entrepreneurial Development Programs Act of 2007, H.R. 2359

The Veterans’ Programs Act of 2007, H.R. 2366

The Women’s Business Programs Act of 2007, H.R. 2397

The Native American Small Business Development Act of 2007, H.R. 2284
Status: Passed the week of June 18, 2007
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Patent Reform Act of 2007 - H.R. 1908
The most significant patent legislation in 50 years, this bill will strengthen the patent system and improve patent quality by deterring abusive practices and by creating a more effective system for considering challenges to the validity of patents.
Status: Passed September 7, 2007
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Internet Tax Freedom - H.R. 3678
This bill will temporarily bans state and local taxes on Internet access. The bill extends the Internet tax moratorium, first passed in 1998, through to 2014, and will now go to the President’s desk for his signature.
Status: Passed October 16, 2007
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The Small Business Contracting Improvements Act - H.R. 3867
The bill brings Small Business Administration’s contracting initiatives into the 21st century, by raising the profile of veteran entrepreneurs and rooting out fraud and taxpayer waste in SBA’s contracting programs.
Status: Passed October 30, 2007
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Making Trade Work for All Americans: The Trade and Globalization Assistance Act - H.R. 3920
This legislation will overhaul the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program – expanding opportunities for job training to transition workers into 21st Century jobs to take advantage of increasing globalization.
Status: Passed October 31, 2007
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The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act - H.R. 2662
This bill is a long-overdue reform bill that updates the Mining Law of 1872 for the 21st century. For example, it requires hardrock mining companies (which mine for such valuable minerals as gold, silver and copper), for the first time, to pay royalties for their operations on federal lands.
Status: Passed November 1, 2007
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Section 202 Affordable Housing for the Elderly Act - H.R. 2930
The Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program is the only U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program that provides housing exclusively for seniors. This legislation would: help preserve the existing supply of affordable housing for seniors, while facilitating the development of new homes to meet increasing demand; allow for adjustment to Project Rental Assistance contracts to accommodate fluctuations in project costs and emergencies, such as utility cost spikes; and maintain and upgrade existing Section 202 housing by allowing property owners to seek financing for the rehabilitation and improvement of current housing, while keeping costs low for their residents.
Status: Passed December 5, 2007
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The AMT Relief Act of 2007 - H.R. 4351
This bill restates House Democrats' commitment to fiscal responsibility, and will provide millions of middle-class families with tax cuts to grow our economy without increasing the national debt. The bill contains provisions that provide $50 billion in alternative minimum tax (AMT) relief to 23 million families and expands the child tax credit to help 12 million children.
Status: Passed December 12, 2007
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CARING FOR OUR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Promoting Life-Saving Stem Cell Research - H.R. 3/S.5
This research bill increases the number of lines of stem cells that are eligible to be used in federally-funded research. The bill authorizes Health and Human Services (HHS) to support research involving embryonic stem cells meeting certain criteria, regardless of the date on which the stem cells were derived from an embryo. The bill only authorizes the use of stem cell lines generated from embryos that would otherwise be discarded by fertility clinics.
Status: Passed January 11, 2007
Final version passed by the House on June 7, 2007
The President vetoed this bill on June 20, 2007
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Requiring Medicare to Negotiate Lower Prescription Drug Prices - H.R. 4
This bill repeals the current provision that prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices for those enrolled in Medicare prescription drug plans and instead requires the Secretary to conduct such negotiations.
Status: Passed January 12, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Cutting Interest Rates on Student Loans - H.R. 5
This bill makes college more accessible and affordable by cutting the interest rates on subsidized student loans in half – from the current 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. This significantly cuts the student debt burden of about 5 million students.
Status: Passed January 17, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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Methamphetamine Remediation Research Act, H.R. 365
This legislation will protect innocent families against the after-effects of methamphetamine production in their neighborhoods by funding meth lab recovery and remediation.
Status: Passed February 7, 2007
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Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act - H.R. 1227
This legislation addresses the housing needs of the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and is the first of several bills that the House will consider to deal with the unmet needs of the people of the Gulf Coast.
Status: Passed March 21, 2007
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Genetic Nondiscrimination Act – H.R. 493
This legislation will protect personal genetic information from discriminatory use by health insurers and employers.
Status: Passed April 25, 2007
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Improving Head Start Act – H.R. 1429
This legislation will help more children arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed by improving program quality and expanding access to more children.
Status: Passed May 2, 2007
Final conference report approved November 14, 2007
Signed into law by the President on December 12, 2007
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Hate Crimes Prevention Act – H.R. 1592
This legislation will provide new resources to help state and local law enforcement agencies prevent and prosecute hate crimes, and closes gaps in current federal hate crimes law.
Status: Passed May 3, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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COPS Improvement Act of 2007 - H.R. 1700
This legislation will provide much needed support to local law enforcement agencies for their community oriented policing (COPS) efforts. This legislation is especially important as local law enforcement agencies struggle with funding gaps to keep officers on the streets.
Status: Passed May 15, 2007
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Child Labor Protection Act of 2007 - H.R. 2637
This legislation would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act by increasing penalties for those who violate child labor provisions. The Fair Labor Standards Act, enacted in 1938, prohibits businesses from employing minors in “oppressive child labor." If businesses violate these laws, they can be fined by the Department of Labor.
Status: Passed June 12, 2007
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National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Act - H.R. 2640
This legislation enforces the provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act, and is designed to make the NICS work better by ensuring it has the appropriate records. It requires the transmittal of federal and state records to NICS, and authorizes grants to states over the next three years.
Status: Passed June 13, 2007
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The College Cost Reduction and Access Act - H.R. 2669
This legislation provides the single largest increase in college aid since the GI bill in 1944. The Democratic-led Congress is committed to growing and strengthening America’s middle class, and will ensure that college is affordable for every qualified student who wants to attend. This legislation both expands educational opportunities for our nation’s young people, and is an investment in our workforce that will continue our economic leadership in the world.
Status: Passed July 11, 2007
On September 7, the House passed the final House-Senate agreement
On September 27, this bill was signed into law by the President
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Section 8 Voucher Reform Act - H.R. 1851
The legislation will change Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Section 8 public housing programs - expanding rental assistance opportunities, improving program efficiency, and encouraging family self-sufficiency. The bill expands the number of families receiving vouchers by 20,000 a year for each of the next five years and ensures the program works effectively for the nation’s low income working families with children, elderly and disabled.
Status: Passed July 12, 2007
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The Rural Housing and Economic Development Act of 2007 - H.R. 1982
This bill would improve the quality of life by providing resources to address substandard housing in rural America. It authorizes $30 million for the Rural Housing and Economic Development (RHED) program for fiscal year 2008, and $40 million for Fiscal Years 2009 through 2013. This program increases and improves capacity building at the state and local level for rural housing and economic development and supports innovative housing and economic development activities in these areas.
Status: Passed July 16, 2007
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Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act - H.R. 2419
This legislation begins to reform farm policy while investing in energy independence, supporting conservation, strengthening nutrition assistance, and recognizing the importance of specialty crops.
Status: Passed July 27, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program - H.R. 976
This bill will bring health coverage to approximately ten million children in need – preserving coverage for all 6.6 million children currently covered by CHIP, and reaching millions more low-income, uninsured American children in the next five years.
Status: Passed August 1, 2007
Passed final House-Senate agreement On September 25, 2007
The President vetoed on October 3, 2007
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Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Reauthorization Act of 2007 - H.R. 2786
This legislation reauthorizes the Native American Housing Assistance Self Determination Act of 1996 for five years and amends the law to address housing needs of Native Americans. The bill clarifies rules and regulations and makes it easier for tribes to attain affordable housing.
Status: Passed September 6, 2007
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The Expanding Homeownership Act of 2007 - H.R. 1852
This bill will revitalize the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which was established to provide a reliable source of affordable mortgage loans for first-time homebuyers. The bill will enable the FHA to serve more subprime borrowers at affordable rates and terms, to attract borrowers that have turned to predatory loans in recent years, and to offer refinancing to homeowners struggling to meet their mortgage payments in the midst of the current turbulent mortgage markets.
Status: Passed September 18, 2007
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The Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act - H.R. 2881
This legislation would modernize the nation's aging air traffic control system, dedicating an increase in the aviation fuel taxes to pay for these improvements. It would modernize airports to reduce flight delays, and protect consumers by reducing over-scheduling and improving the system to address complaints.
Status: Passed September 20, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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The Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act - H.R. 2693
This legislation responds to the appearance of a fatal and irreversible disease called bronchiolitis obliterans that appeared among a group of workers in a popcorn plant in 2000. The disease, which has come to be known as “popcorn lung,” is connected to diacetyl, a chemical used in artificial butter flavoring that the workers were exposed to, according to the National Institute for Occupations Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Status: Passed September 26, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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The Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007 - H.R. 3121
This legislation reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years, through FY 2013 (the current authorization for NFIP expires on September 30, 2008). It also provides for reforms to the NFIP, improves flood mapping, and expands the NFIP to provide for multiple peril coverage. Following are highlights of some of the bill’s provisions.
Status: Passed September 27, 2007
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Small Business Investment Expansion - H.R. 3567
This bill will help business owners, particularly veterans and women, to obtain investment capital to start or grow their small businesses
Status: Passed September 27, 2007
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Housing Tax Relief - H.R. 3648
Under current law, when a family faces mortgage foreclosure, any debt forgiven or renegotiation is considered income for tax purposes, creating a large tax bill. Families dealing with the pain of foreclosure should not have the double burden of a large tax bill for terminating their mortgage through no fault of their own.
Status: Passed October 4, 2007
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Child Safety Bills
The House passed four bills that are designed to improve child safety – better ensuring that the products that children use are completely safe and reliable.
Status: Passed October 9, 2007
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National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act - H.R. 2895
This bill will establish a national affordable housing trust fund to build or preserve 1.5 million homes or apartments over the next 10 years, without increasing government spending or the federal deficit. The bill will initially allocate between $800 million and $1 billion annually directly to states and local communities, targeting funds for the construction of affordable housing and for lower income families facing the greatest housing affordability challenges.
Status: Passed October 10, 2007
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Railroad Safety - H.R. 2095
The bill reauthorizes and renames Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”) and takes a variety of steps to strengthen rail safety including updating the limits on rail workers' hours of service to reduce fatigue-related accidents, nearly doubling the number of safety inspectors, requiring new safety technologies on trains, and upgrading safety at rail tracks and crossings.
Status: Passed October 17, 2007
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The Homeowners’ Defense Act of 2007 - H.R. 3355
This bill is designed to address the growing crisis in the availability and affordability of homeowners’ insurance. The legislation focuses on stabilizing the catastrophe insurance market by expanding private industry’s capacity to cover natural disasters and helping states to better manage risk. Following are highlights of the bill’s provisions.
Status: Passed November 8, 2007
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Online Child Protection
During the week of November 12, the House passed five bills to crack down on online predators and help make the internet safe for children. These bills are:

H.R. 3845 - PROTECT Our Children Act
H.R. 719 - Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act
H.R. 4120 - Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act
H.R. 4134 – Internet Crime Prevention Education Program Act
H.R. 4136 - Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography Act
Learn more>>

Transportation-HUD Appropriations - H.R. 3074
The Transportation and Housing conference report addresses the important challenges of keeping our transportation system safe and strong, ensuring that every American has adequate shelter, and doing so in a way that strengthens the economy and is environmentally responsible.
Status: Final conference report passed November 14, 2007
Learn more>>

Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending - H.R. 3915
The bill responds to the subprime mortgage crisis by instituting much needed reform to prevent these bad loans from being made in the first place.
Status: Passed November 15, 2007
Learn more>>

Labor, Health, and Human Services & Veterans Appropriations - H.R. 3043
This bill provides the largest increase for veterans in history, rejects the President’s cuts to needed resources for health care, education, job training, and home heating assistance, and makes critical investments in our future. The President has approved 27 previous appropriations bills that were combined in this fashion by Republican congresses.
Status: Passed November 6, 2007
Vetoed by the President November 13, 2007
The House fell two votes short of overriding the President's veto on November 15, 2007
Learn more>>

PROTECTING OUR PLANET

Repealing Big Oil Subsidies/Investing in Renewable Fuels - H.R. 6
This bill invests in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency by repealing billions in subsidies given to big oil companies that are raking in record profits.
Status: Passed January 18, 2007
Learn more>>

Reauthorizing Sewer Overflow Control Grants - H.R. 569
This bill authorizes $1.5 billion in grants to local communities over the next five years to construct treatment works to deal with sewer overflows that often occur after heavy rainfalls. This bill is crucial because sewer overflows represent a major public health hazard.
Status: Passed March 7, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
Learn more>>

Reauthorizing Pilot Program for Increasing Useable Water Supply - H.R. 700
This bill authorizes $125 million to fund projects that increase usable water supply by encouraging innovation in water reclamation, reuse and conservation.
Status: Passed March 8, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
Learn more>>

Reauthorizing Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund - H.R. 720
The Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund is a vital program for state and local governments that addresses critical water infrastructure needs. This bill authorizes a total of $14 billion for the fund over the next four years, ensures clean water and fosters economic development in local communities by helping pay for building and improving wastewater treatment facilities.
Status: Passed March 9, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Advanced Fuels Infrastructure R&D Act - H.R. 547
This legislation will help make alternative biofuels more quickly and affordably, and assists retailers in the transition to clean diesel fuels.
Status: Passed February 17, 2007
Learn more>>

Water Resources Development Act of 2007 - H.R. 1495
This legislation authorizes several projects and studies for the United States Army Corps of Engineers to carry out its major missions of flood control to protect our lives and livelihoods, viable navigation corridors for the movement of goods and services, and ecosystem restoration projects to improve the health of our nation’s environment.
Status: Passed April 19, 2007
Final version passed by the House on August 1, 2007
Vetoed on November 2, 2007
Veto Overridden by the House on November 6, 2007
Veto Overridden by the Senate on November 8, 2007
Learn more>>

Interior-Environment Appropriations - H.R. 2643
This legislation fully funds the Clean Water Fund that the President proposed cutting by 37 percent, makes improving our national parks, national wildlife refuges, and national forests a key priority, and boosts basic research on climate change by 53 percent.
Status: Passed June 27, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Energy Independence and Security Act
This legislation will move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, develop innovative new technologies, reduce carbon emissions, create green jobs, protect consumers, increase clean renewable energy production, and modernize our energy infrastructure.
Status: Passed August 4, 2007
Final version passed by the House on December 18, 2007
The President signed this bill into law on December 19, 2007
Learn more>>

Renewable Energy - H. Con. Res. 25
This Sense of the Congress resolution expresses that the goal of the U.S. is that America’s farms, forests, and ranches provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in America from renewable resources by 2025, while continuing to produce safe, abundant, and affordable food, feed, and fiber. The 110th Congress is taking America in a New Direction, working to strengthen our energy security by reducing American dependence on foreign oil.
Status: Passed October 15, 2007
Learn more>>

Energy & Science Bills
These three bills promote industrial energy efficiency and energy storage technologies, and support the goals and ideals of National Science Week.
Status: Passed October 22, 2007
Learn more>>

RESTORING ACCOUNTABILITY

Honest Leadership - H.Res. 6
To clean up Washington and sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, House Democrats started by banning travel and gifts from lobbyists, requiring full transparency to end the abuse of special interest earmarks, banning travel on corporate jets, shutting down the K Street project, reinstating the strict rules of pay-as-you-go budgeting, and ending the abusive processes that have destroyed democracy in the House of Representatives. These measures are the first steps to ensure that this Congress upholds the highest ethical standards.
Status: Passed January 5, 2007
Learn more>>

Pension Forfeiture Act - H.R. 476
This legislation requires that Members convicted of certain federal offenses forfeit their congressional pension rights.
Status: Passed January 23, 2007

The Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 2007 - H.R. 1309
This bill amends the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in a dozen substantive provisions to provide for more timely disclosure of government documents, including restoring the presumption of disclosure to FOIA, helping FOIA requesters obtain timely responses, improving transparency in agency compliance with FOIA, providing an alternative to litigation, and providing accountability for FOIA decisions.
Status: Passed March 14, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
Learn more>>

Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 - H.R. 1255
Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential records are supposed to be released to historians and the public 12 years after the end of a presidential administration. In 2001, President George W. Bush issued an executive order which gave current and former presidents and vice presidents broad authority to withhold presidential records or delay their release indefinitely. The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 nullifies the Bush executive order and establishes procedures to ensure the timely release of presidential records.
Status: Passed March 14, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2007 - H.R. 1254
This bill requires the disclosure of donors to Presidential libraries. Presidential libraries are built using private funds raised by an organization or foundation working on behalf of the president. Under current law, donations for the presidential library can be unlimited in size and are not required to be disclosed. The bill would require that all organizations established for the purpose of raising funds for presidential libraries or their related facilities report on a quarterly basis all contributions of $200 or more.
Status: Passed March 14, 2007
Learn more>>

Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007 - H.R. 985
This bill strengthens protections for federal whistleblowers to prevent retaliation against those who report wrongdoing, waste, fraud, or abuse to authorities.
Status: Passed March 14, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Accountability in Contracting Act - H.R. 1362
This bill changes federal acquisition law to require agencies to limit the use of abuse-prone contracts, to increase transparency and accountability in federal contracting, and to protect the integrity of the acquisition workforce.
Status: Passed March 15, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
Learn more>>

Interim Appointment of U.S. Attorneys – H.R. 580
This legislation will help better ensure the independence of U.S. Attorneys – by repealing a provision in a 2006 statute that grants the Attorney General the authority to make indefinite interim appointments of U.S. Attorneys, who can then serve indefinitely without Senate confirmation.
Status: Passed March 26, 2007
Learn more>>

Taxpayer Protection Act - H.R. 1677
This legislation increases IRS outreach to provide taxpayers with stronger protections from identity theft and tax fraud. The bill simplifies tax filing requirements, strengthens outreach so people know they are entitled to tax refunds or payments under the Earned Income Tax Credit, and it increases taxpayer protections from “predatory” providers.
Status: Passed April 17, 2007
Learn more>>

RECOVER Act – H.R. 1361
This legislation overhauls the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Disaster Assistance Program. In response to SBA’s disastrous performance after the 2005 Gulf State hurricanes, this bill provides numerous provisions to improve and strengthen the SBA disaster assistance program.
Status: Passed April 18, 2007
The President opposes in its current form
Learn more>>

D.C. Voting Rights Act – H.R. 1905
This legislation will secure voting rights in the House for the District of Columbia, permanently expanding the U.S. House of Representatives from 435 to 437 seats. This provides a vote to the District of Columbia and a new, at-large seat through the 112th Congress to the state next entitled to increase its congressional representation (which, according to the Census, is Utah).
Status: Passed April 19, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>
Shareholder Vote on Executive Compensation Act – H.R. 1257
This bill requires that public companies ensure that shareholders have an annual nonbinding vote on their company’s executive compensation plans. It also requires a nonbinding advisory vote if the company awards a new golden parachute package while simultaneously negotiating the purchase or sale of the company.
Status: Passed April 20, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
Learn more>>

Student Loan Sunshine Act - H.R. 890
In light of mounting evidence of unethical practices in the student loan industry, this legislation cleans up the relationships between student lenders and colleges.
Status: Passed May 9, 2007
Learn more>>

Honest Leadership and Open Government Act – H.R. 2316/S.1
This legislation ends the tight-knit relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers. This is a tough bill that ends the culture of corruption, and restores accountability in Washington, ending the tight-knit relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers and taking another major step toward making the 110th Congress the most open, honest Congress in history. Status: Passed May 24, 2007
Final version passed the House on July 31, 2007
Signed into law by the President on September 14, 2007
Learn more>>
The Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act – S. 214
This bill reinstates the Senate’s role in the U.S. Attorney confirmation process. It is designed to help better ensure the independence of U.S. Attorneys – by repealing a provision in a 2006 statute that grants the Attorney General the authority to make indefinite interim appointments of U.S. Attorneys, who can then serve indefinitely without Senate confirmation.
Status: Passed May 22, 2007
Signed into law by the President on June 14, 2007
Learn more>>

The Federal Housing Finance Reform Act – H.R. 1427
This legislation will overhaul the regulatory oversight of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks, and create a new, independent regulator with broad powers analogous to current banking regulators. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises, meaning they are both created and chartered by Congress in addition to being private, profit-seeking businesses. It also creates a non-taxpayer financed affordable housing fund, which will dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars for the construction, maintenance and preservation of affordable housing, with the first year of the fund to be dedicated to the hurricane stricken areas of the Gulf Coast, and billions of dollars over the next five years for affordable housing nationwide.
Status: Passed May 22, 2007
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The Lobbying Transparency Act – H.R. 2317
This bill requiring lobbyists who “bundle,” or collect campaign checks for Members of Congress, to meet strict reporting and disclosure guidelines.
Status: Passed May 24, 2007
Learn more>>

Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act - H.R. 1281
This bill will prohibit and punish deceptive practices that aim to keep voters away from the polls on Election Day. This bill protects every American citizen’s right to vote by making voter deception, for the first time, a crime.
Status: Passed June 25, 2007
Learn more>

The Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 - H.R. 2900
This legislation reauthorizes the prescription drug user fee for five years and increases the fee in order to allow the FDA to approve life-saving drugs more quickly. The bill makes the most sweeping safety and regulatory changes to the agency in years, adding new surveillance and safety requirements for drugs after they have been approved and marketed.
Status: Passed July 11, 2007
Learn more>>

FDIC Enforcement Enhancement Act - H.R. 2547
To protect consumers nationwide, this legislation will impose penalties on companies that falsely claim to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). This bill protects the integrity and the reputation of the FDIC as well as the millions of consumers that place their trust in the financial regulatory institutions.
Status: Passed July 16, 2007
Learn more>>

Passport Backlog Reduction Act of 2007 - S. 966
The new passport requirements have triggered an enormous passport backlog, with about 3 million pending passport applications that have yet to be processed. This delay has forced Americans to cancel business, leisure trips, and trips for study abroad. This legislation helps eliminate the backlog that is plaguing American travelers. It waives salary restrictions and allows the Department of State to bring back former employees to assist in passport-related duties.
Status: Passed July 16, 2007
Signed into the law by the President on July 30, 2007
Learn more>>

Campaign Expenditure Transparency Act - H.R. 2630
This legislation raises the bar on the ethical standards of Members of Congress by ending the practice of allowing federal office holders and candidates to employ spouses in their campaign. It would also require the disclosure of all other immediate family members who are employed by a candidate’s campaign. In addition, this bill would ban the egregious practice involving the spouse of an elected official earning commissions for fundraising activity. In those situations, the candidate or elected official personally pockets a percentage of all campaign funds raised by their spouse.
Status: Passed July 23, 2007
Learn more>>

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - H.R. 2831
This legislation rectifies the recent Supreme Court decision that makes it harder for workers to pursue pay discrimination claims. The bill simply restores the longstanding interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act – that each paycheck that results from a discriminatory decision is itself a discriminatory act that resets the clock on the 180-day period within which a worker must file.
Status: Passed July 31, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Honest Leadership, Open Government Act - S. 1
This is tough legislation designed to end the culture of corruption and restore accountability in Washington. The bill ends the tight-knit relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers and takes another major step toward making the 110th Congress the most open, honest Congress in history. This legislation will bring unprecedented transparency to lobbyists’ activities and is another major step to change the way business is done in Washington.
Status: Passed July 31, 2007
Signed into the law by the President on September 15, 2007
Learn more>>

Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act - H.R. 180
In continuing efforts to address the genocide and humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the House passed legislation that will require the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a list of companies whose business activities in Sudan directly support the genocidal practices of the regime in Khartoum.
Status: Passed July 31, 2007
Learn more>>

Supporting Democracy in Burma - H. Con. Res. 200
This bill condemns the Violent Suppression of Buddhist Monks and Other Peaceful Demonstrators in Burma, which denounces the violence and human rights violations in Burma and calls for the immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Status: Passed October 2, 2007
Learn more>>

The Improving Government Accountability Act - H.R. 928
This bill contains a number of provisions to enhance the effectiveness and independence of Inspectors General. It also contains provisions to enhance the accountability of the Inspector General system overall.
Status: Passed October 3, 2007
Learn more>>

Ending Private Tax Collection - H.R. 3056
This bill was passed to repeal the use of private debt collection companies to collect federal income taxes, delay the application of an onerous three percent withholding requirement on government payments, and discourage individuals who renounce their U.S. citizenship to avoid paying taxes.
Status: Passed October 10, 2007
Learn more>>

Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 - H.R. 2102
The bill would provide journalists with a qualified privilege as to sources and information, while at the same time, recognizing the need for effective law enforcement and robust national security. Freedom of the press is fundamental to our democracy and is essential to protecting the public's right to know. Without a federal media shield law to protect the confidential sources of journalists, freedom of the press is threatened.
Status: Passed October 16, 2007
Learn more>>

Combating Human Trafficking - H.R. 3887
The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act will step up U.S. diplomatic efforts to combat the scourge of human trafficking worldwide. This legislation addresses the fundamental right of every human being to live in freedom and safety. It requires a comprehensive analysis of trafficking data to yield new information about where victims are going and how to free them. It also provides help for countries to inspect locations where forced labor occurs, to register vulnerable populations and to provide more protection to foreign workers. It ensures that U.S. assistance programs are both transparent and effective, and it urges the Administration to work with other countries to reach agreements between labor exporters and labor importers so that vulnerable workers have more, rather than less protection.
Status: Passed December 4, 2007
Learn more>>

Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 - S.888
This bill would close a legal loophole that prevents the United States Department of Justice from prosecuting people in our country who have committed genocide abroad. Under current law, the United States cannot prosecute foreign nationals suspected of genocide that are living in our country. The Justice Department has identified individuals who had an active role in the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides living in the United States under false pretenses. They are unable to interview or charge any of these individuals because they lack jurisdictional rights.
Status: Passed December 5, 2007

That was Dawnie pretending to by a cowgirl dumbshit. Sheesh

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 04:36 AM....that was not Dawnie, as I am sure she will be quick to tell you.....you think that was Dawnie!...Now, THAT is funny!

If they nominate McCain and Edwards is our nominee, most of the Republican Christians will vote for Edwards.

Posted by goodfoe on December 29, 2007 at 04:35 AM

In your dreams moron, I don't think they will find acceptable a reprobate who, while his wife is dying of breast cancer that has moved to her bones, hooked up with a younger, prettier, non dumpy babe who he knocked up.

Yeah right, that's what God's people want.

Anybody who would tear down a good woman like Pelosi, and deny all she's done to help America, is a total idiot.

GOD BLESS NANCY PELOSI!

A post so nice I will post it twice with emphasis this time:

If they nominate McCain and Edwards is our nominee, most of the Republican Christians will vote for Edwards.

Posted by goodfoe on December 29, 2007 at 04:35 AM

In your dreams moron, I don't think they will find acceptable a reprobate who, while his wife is dying of breast cancer that has moved to her bones, hooked up with a younger, prettier, non dumpy babe who he knocked up.

Yeah right, that's what God's people want.

Huckleberry is not going to be the candidate. Get real - sheesh.

The Republicans will do what they always do. They will choose the guy whose turn it is. And it is John McCain's turn. Certainly not my first choice but if he chooses an acceptable VP and then dies of old age, I would be cool with that.

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 03:54 AM

That must be what is wrong with the repug party...they don't do what is right, but take who is next in line. Morons!

I think you are wrong about the huckster. He will be appealing to moderate democrats and/or once every 4 year voters rather than Sen. Clinton.

McCain's haydays are over. I bet the repug voters wished they had nominated him over w. I doubt we would be in the middle east fighting a war and making profits for the mega rich. We would have been safer here at home too.

Bunch of numbskulls!

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 04:42 AM.....You are grabbing at straws in the wind again, Frosty, That Rovian plant about Edwards and a worker has been throughly debunked. If perpetuating lies is the best you can do, WE WIN!!!

Goodfoe, look how scared they are of Edwards. They are totally desperate, and will say anything to stop Edwards. This time people will laugh when Oxy-Rush and O'Luffa boy attack.

Romney has the media and corporate money. Hucks people already gave to tele-evangelists and the troops phone card fund.

But you're right. The REAL Christians WILL vote for Edwards over the Pagan Romney. MA does not mind Pagans, but the South does.

Yeah right, that's what God's people want.

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 04:42 AM

Then the huckster is right up their alley.

Posted by Big_Yellow_Dog on December 29, 2007 at 04:54 AM....Right again Big Dog!

Good morning Essie! Dancin' in your jammies!

That must be what is wrong with the repug party...they don't do what is right, but take who is next in line. Morons!

Posted by Esmeralda on December 29, 2007 at 04:52 AM

They take the next in line unless a Reaganest candidate is in the field. That is not the case this time.

Posted by Big_Yellow_Dog on December 29, 2007 at 03:18 AM

luv it! haha

Good morning, Esmeralda!

Can you believe how much Pelosi has accomplished?
America really needed a woman to run the HOUSE.
Where would America be if Hastert was still in charge?

We wouldn't have this:
Since January, more than 130 key measures have passed the House, with nearly 70 percent receiving significant bipartisan support. In critical instances, the President and his Republican allies in Congress have stubbornly stood in the way of progress with six vetoes and 41 vetoes threatened.

These are the first of many steps in a New Direction for a stronger and more secure America. Learn more about the legislation of the 110th Congress:

Defending our Country
Growing our Economy
Caring for our Children and Families
Protecting our Planet
Restoring Accountability

DEFENDING OUR COUNTRY

Implementing 9/11 Commission's Recommendations - H.R. 1
This legislation provides for the implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations. The bill’s provisions include major improvements in aviation security, border security, and infrastructure security; providing first responders the equipment and training they need; beefing up efforts to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction; and significantly expanding diplomatic, economic, educational, and other strategies designed to counter Islamic terrorism.
Status: Passed January 9, 2007
Final House-Senate version passed by the House on July 27, 2007
Signed into law by the President on August 3, 2007
Learn more>>

Concurrent Resolution on the President's Escalation Plan - H.RES.63
This resolution disapproves of the decision of the President announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq. It further resolves that Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq.
Status: Passed February 16, 2007
Learn more>>

Foreign Investment and National Security Act - H.R. 556
This bill strengthens national security by reforming the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) process by which the Federal Government reviews foreign investments in the United States for their national security implications.
Status: Passed February 28, 2007
Final House-Senate version passed by the House on July 11, 2007
Signed into law by the President on July 26, 2007
Learn more>>

U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act
Had it not been vetoed by the President, this bill would have supported our troops and veterans, held the Bush Administration and Iraqi government accountable, and brought our soldiers home by August 2008 or sooner. It would have expanded funding for veterans’ health care and hospitals and refocused military efforts on Afghanistan and fighting terrorism.
Status: Passed March 23, 2007
Vetoed by the President May 1, 2007
Learn more>>

Rail and Mass Transit Security Act - H.R. 1401
This legislation is designed to close the security gaps facing rail and mass transit and includes provisions on issues such as training, grants, security planning, research and development, and shipments of sensitive materials.
Status: Passed March 26, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Wounded Warrior Assistance Act - H.R. 1538
This bill responds to the problems brought to light at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military health care facilities. It includes provisions to improve the access to quality medical care for wounded service members who are outpatients at military health care facilities, begin the process of restoring the integrity and efficiency of the disability evaluation system, and improve the transition of wounded service members from the Armed Forces to the VA system.
Status: Passed March 28, 2007
Learn more>>

FY 2008 Homeland Security Authorization - H.R. 1684
This legislation authorizes $39.8 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security in fiscal year 2008. Because the President has been submitting budgets that underfunded key homeland security priorities over the last few years, this bill is authorizing $2.1 billion more than the President requested.
Status: Passed May 9, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Revised Version of the FY 2007 Supplemental Funding Bill - H.R. 2206
This bill is a revised version of the FY 2007 Supplemental, which fails to include the tough provisions holding the Iraqi government accountable and providing a responsible timetable for the redeployment of U.S. troops contained in the earlier version. However, in this bill, the President was forced to abandon his threat to veto any bill containing accountability – agreeing to 18 benchmarks and a potential cut-off of reconstruction aid if progress is not made toward meeting them. The measure also includes a minimum wage increase, children’s health care, and other important domestic priorities.
Status: Passed May 10, 2007
Signed into the law by the President on May 25, 2007
Learn more>>

FY 2008 Intelligence Authorization Bill - H.R. 2082
This legislation will make new investments in intelligence personnel and enhance oversight of how intelligence is carried out. It authorizes intelligence funding for all U.S. intelligence agencies, including our military intelligence organizations.
Status: Passed May 11, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
Learn more>>

FY 2008 Defense Authorization Bill - H.R. 1585
This legislation will provide the necessary resources and authorities to quickly and efficiently reverse declining trends in training and equipment readiness, and will also provide our service members doing their duty overseas in multiple wars with the best gear and force protection possible. Under the bill, our troops will get better health care, better pay, and the benefits they have earned.
Status: Passed May 17, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Veterans Bills
These 6 bills support our veterans and honor their sacrifices, providing them with expanded health care and the benefits they deserve.

The Veterans Outreach and Improvement Act of 2007, H.R. 67, would improve outreach activities of the Department of Veterans Affairs. It allows the VA to partner with state and local governments to reach out to veterans and their families in ensuring they receive the benefits for which they are eligible and assist them in completing their benefits claims.

The Returning Servicemember VA Healthcare Insurance Act of 2007, H.R. 612, extends the period of eligibility for health care for combat service in the Persian Gulf or future hostilities from two years to five years after discharge or release.

The Traumatic Brain Injury Health Enhancement and Long-Term Support Act of 2007, H.R. 2199, ensures that our veterans are properly screened for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI, the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) and, if diagnosed, receive the appropriate treatment.

The Early Access to Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Benefits Act, H.R. 2239, expands eligibility for vocational rehabilitation benefits for severely injured service members undergoing long-term care and recovery. It makes it easier for injured veterans with service-connected disabilities by allowing the Veterans’ Administration’s vocational rehabilitation and employment (VR&E) benefits to be received before discharge.

The Chiropractic Care Available to All Veterans Act, H.R. 1470, requires the provision of chiropractic care and services to veterans at all Department of Veterans Affairs medical center.

H.R. 1660 would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national cemetery for veterans in the Southern Colorado region.

Status: Passed May 23, 2007
Learn more>>

The Afghanistan Freedom and Security Support Act - H.R. 2446
This legislation will fund development, economic and security assistance programs, and establishment of a coordinator to tackle the growing threat of narcotics in Afghanistan. The bill renews a 2002 Afghanistan authorization and provides additional support for programs as diverse as assistance to women and girls, energy development and counter-narcotics. This bill represents the United States’ commitment to achieving long-term stability and security in Afghanistan.
Status: Passed June 6, 2007
Learn more>>

Homeland Security Appropriations - H.R. 2638
This legislation funds 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents, provides first responders with the equipment and training they need, and provides tougher aviation and port security.
Status: Passed June 15, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

International Nuclear Fuel for Peace Nonproliferation Act - H.R. 885
This legislation supports the creation of an international nuclear fuel bank so that any country seeking to develop peaceful nuclear power-producing capability will not have to enrich uranium. This bank will make sure that any state that keeps its nuclear nonproliferation commitments can get the fuel it needs without establishing its own fuel production facilities.
Status: Passed June 18, 2007
Learn more>>

State-Foreign Operations Appropriations - H.R. 2764
This legislation supports our allies in the campaign against terrorism, including providing more than $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan; and promotes global stability by strengthening development assistance and addressing humanitarian crises such as the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and Darfur.
Status: Passed June 22, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Collective Bargaining for Public Safety Personnel - H.R. 980
This legislation would provide firefighters and police officers with basic workplace collective bargaining rights. In the post-9/11 era of protecting America from terrorism, in which we are asking our police officers, firefighters, and other public safety officers to take on even more responsibilities than they had before, the least we can do is ensure that they have basic rights to seek better wages and benefits.
Status: Passed July 17, 2007
Learn more>>

Banning Permanent U.S. Bases in Iraq - H.R. 2929
This legislation states that it is the policy of the United States not to establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing a permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq. It also states that it is the policy of the United States not to exercise U.S. control of the oil resources of Iraq. The measure bars the use of any funds provided by any law from being used to carry out any policy that contradicts these statements of policy.
Status: Passed July 25, 2007
Learn more>>
Iran Sanctions Enabling - H.R. 2347
This legislation empowers Americans to apply economic pressure on the Iranian regime by establishing a federal list of entities that invest in Iran and allowing for divestment. As Iran continues to threaten regional stability and international security by pursuing a nuclear program, rattling sabers at its neighbors – especially Israel – and supporting terrorist groups funded by its energy sector, this bill will enable investors and state and local governments to ensure they are not invested in companies that support Iran’s oil and gas industry.
Status: Passed July 31, 2007
Learn more>>

Ensuring Military Readiness Through Stability and Predictability Deployment Policy Act - H.R. 3159
This bill would require active duty forces to be guaranteed that their time at home match the length of their deployment. National Guard and reservists would be home for three times the length of the deployments. The bill would allow the President to waive these requirements to meet the national security needs of the country, and allow Service Chiefs of Staff to allow for the voluntary mobilization of members. These requirements would apply to those serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Status: Passed August 2, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act - H.R. 4299
This revised bill extends the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for 7 years. TRIA provides a federal backstop to the insurance industry by providing compensation for a portion of insured losses resulting from acts certified by the government as acts of terrorism.
Status: Passed September 19, 2007
Revised version passed by the House on December 12, 2007
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Contingency Planning for Redeployment from Iraq - H.R. 3087
This bill requires the Department of Defense, within 60 days, to submit a report on the status of planning for redeployment from Iraq to the congressional defense committees, with updated reports every 90 days thereafter.
Status: Passed October 2, 2007
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Accountability for Crimes Committed by Overseas Contractors - H.R. 2740
This bill is designed to ensure that all private security contractors in war zones overseas will be held accountable for any criminal behavior. Currently, there is only clear jurisdiction of the U.S. courts over those contractors who are on contract with the Department of Defense. Following are highlights of some of the bill’s provisions.
Status: Passed October 4, 2007
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The War Profiteering Prevention Act - H.R. 400
This legislation creates a new federal criminal fraud offense to prohibit fraudulent acts involving the provision of goods or services in connection with a mission of the U.S. government overseas. Following are highlights of some of the bill’s provisions.
Status: Passed October 9, 2007
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Iraqi Corruption - H.Res. 734
This legislation raises objections to the Administration’s withholding of information relating to corruption in Iraq. The American people and Congress deserve honest answers about the extent of corruption in the Iraqi government and whether corruption is fueling the insurgency and endangering our troops.
Status: Passed October 16, 2007
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Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act - H.R. 1955
This bill is designed to take steps to better understand violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in order to prevent them.
Status: Passed October 23, 2007
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Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act - H.R. 327
This legislation directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop and implement a comprehensive program to reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans. The bill is named for an Iraq veteran who took his own life, and recognizes the special needs of veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and elderly veterans who are at high risk for depression and experience high rates of suicide.
Status: Passed October 23, 2007
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The Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act, H.R. 4156
The American people continue to demand a New Direction in Iraq. This war – now lasting nearly five years, longer than World War II – has cost Americans too much, in terms of lives, dollars, and our reputation around the world. This legislation will change the direction of President Bush’s failed Iraqi policy: require the President to redeploy our troops, while providing our troops in harm’s way with the resources they need.
Status: Passed November 14, 2007
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Defense Authorization for FY 2008 - H.R. 1585
This measure will provide the necessary resources and authorities to quickly and efficiently reverse declining trends in military readiness, and will also provide our service members in harm’s way with the best gear and force protection possible. Under the conference report, our troops will get better health care, better pay, and the benefits they have earned.
Status: Passed December 12, 2007
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Intelligence Authorization for FY 2008 - H.R. 2082
The bill authorizes the largest amount for intelligence programs ever authorized - containing numerous provisions to improve the effectiveness of intelligence programs and agencies. It also includes an amendment that extends to U.S. intelligence agencies and personnel the current prohibitions in the Army Field Manual against torture.
Status: Passed December 13, 2007
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GROWING OUR ECONOMY

Raising the Minimum Wage - H.R. 2
This bill increases the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years. Increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour brings a pay raise for up to 13 million Americans.
Status: Passed January 10, 2007
The President signed into law on May 25 as part of the revised 2007 supplemental funding bill, H.R. 2206
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Employee Free Choice Act - H.R. 800
The Employee Free Choice Act will restore workers’ rights by removing obstacles that prevent workers from choosing whether or not they want to form or join a union.
Status: Passed March 1, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act – H.R. 362
This legislation ensures that our teachers are equipped to adequately prepare the workforce of tomorrow in science, math, and technology. It invests in new teachers through professional development, summer training institutes, graduate education assistance, and scholarships.
Status: Passed April 24, 2007
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Sowing the Seeds Through Science and Engineering Research Act – H.R. 363
This act encourages scientists by providing grants in the early stages of their careers, supporting recruiting and training young scientists and engineers.
Status: Passed April 24, 2007
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Small Business Lending Improvement Act – H.R. 1332
This legislation provides small businesses with the access to capital they need to start and expand their businesses.
Status: Passed April 25, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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National Science Foundation Authorization Act – H.R. 1867
This legislation puts us on a path to doubling funding for the National Science Foundation’s research over the next 10 years, and encourages young scientists and researchers.
Status: Passed May 2, 2007
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Technology Innovation and Manufacturing Stimulation Act – H.R. 1868
This legislation is the first full reauthorization of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology since 1991, authorizing $2.5 billion for fiscal year 2008-2010.
Status: Passed May 3, 2007
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Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act - H.R. 1873
This legislation will put small businesses on a level playing field with big corporations by increasing their access to federal contracts. It will require the Small Business Administration to reach out to small businesses regarding opportunities for earning government contracts, and mandate stricter oversight of government agencies to ensure they are making progress in awarding contracts to small businesses.
Status: Passed May 10, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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America COMPETES Act: The Innovation Agenda – H.R. 2272
This bill is made up of five Innovation Agenda bills that have been passed by the House. They were combined into one bill to prepare to go to conference with the Senate, which passed an omnibus innovation and competitiveness bill (S. 761) on April 25.

On August 2nd, the House passed the final House-Senate agreeement on H.R. 2272. This legislation is the culmination of a year and a half-long, bipartisan effort to pass an Innovation Agenda that boldly responds to the global economic challenges identified in the 2005 National Academies report, Rising above the Gathering Storm. It ensures American students, teachers, businesses, and workers are prepared to continue leading the world in innovation, research, and technology well into the future.

H.R. 2272 combined the following five bills:

The 10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act, H.R. 362

The Sowing the Seeds Through Science and Engineering Research Act, H.R. 363

The National Science Foundation Authorization Act, H.R. 1867

The Technology Innovation and Manufacturing Stimulation Act, H.R. 1868

The Amending High-Performance Computing Act, H.R. 1068

Status: Passed the House May 21, 2007
Final House-Senate agreement passed the House August 2, 2007
Signed into law by the President on August 9, 2007
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The No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) Act - H.R. 2264
This legislation enables the Department of Justice to take legal action against foreign nations for participating in oil cartels that drive up oil prices globally and in the United States. It does so by exempting OPEC and other nations from the provisions of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act when acting in a commercial capacity; by making clear that the so-called “Act of State” doctrine does not prevent courts from ruling on antitrust charges brought against foreign governments; and by authorizing the Department of Justice to bring lawsuits in U.S. courts against cartel members.
Status: Passed May 23, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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The Energy Price Gouging Act – H.R. 1252
This legislation will reduce the burden of rising gas prices on American families, providing immediate relief to consumers by giving the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the authority to investigate and punish those who artificially inflate the price of energy. It ensures the federal government has the tools it needs to adequately respond to energy emergencies and prohibit price gouging – with a priority on refineries and big oil companies.
Status: Passed May 24, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Small Business Bills
During the week of June 18th, the House passed a package of bills that strengthen the Small Business Administration and help grow America’s businesses and economy. These bills also assist veterans and women, and encourage Native American entrepreneurs. They are:

The SBA Entrepreneurial Development Programs Act of 2007, H.R. 2359

The Veterans’ Programs Act of 2007, H.R. 2366

The Women’s Business Programs Act of 2007, H.R. 2397

The Native American Small Business Development Act of 2007, H.R. 2284
Status: Passed the week of June 18, 2007
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Patent Reform Act of 2007 - H.R. 1908
The most significant patent legislation in 50 years, this bill will strengthen the patent system and improve patent quality by deterring abusive practices and by creating a more effective system for considering challenges to the validity of patents.
Status: Passed September 7, 2007
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Internet Tax Freedom - H.R. 3678
This bill will temporarily bans state and local taxes on Internet access. The bill extends the Internet tax moratorium, first passed in 1998, through to 2014, and will now go to the President’s desk for his signature.
Status: Passed October 16, 2007
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The Small Business Contracting Improvements Act - H.R. 3867
The bill brings Small Business Administration’s contracting initiatives into the 21st century, by raising the profile of veteran entrepreneurs and rooting out fraud and taxpayer waste in SBA’s contracting programs.
Status: Passed October 30, 2007
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Making Trade Work for All Americans: The Trade and Globalization Assistance Act - H.R. 3920
This legislation will overhaul the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program – expanding opportunities for job training to transition workers into 21st Century jobs to take advantage of increasing globalization.
Status: Passed October 31, 2007
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The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act - H.R. 2662
This bill is a long-overdue reform bill that updates the Mining Law of 1872 for the 21st century. For example, it requires hardrock mining companies (which mine for such valuable minerals as gold, silver and copper), for the first time, to pay royalties for their operations on federal lands.
Status: Passed November 1, 2007
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Section 202 Affordable Housing for the Elderly Act - H.R. 2930
The Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program is the only U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program that provides housing exclusively for seniors. This legislation would: help preserve the existing supply of affordable housing for seniors, while facilitating the development of new homes to meet increasing demand; allow for adjustment to Project Rental Assistance contracts to accommodate fluctuations in project costs and emergencies, such as utility cost spikes; and maintain and upgrade existing Section 202 housing by allowing property owners to seek financing for the rehabilitation and improvement of current housing, while keeping costs low for their residents.
Status: Passed December 5, 2007
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The AMT Relief Act of 2007 - H.R. 4351
This bill restates House Democrats' commitment to fiscal responsibility, and will provide millions of middle-class families with tax cuts to grow our economy without increasing the national debt. The bill contains provisions that provide $50 billion in alternative minimum tax (AMT) relief to 23 million families and expands the child tax credit to help 12 million children.
Status: Passed December 12, 2007
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CARING FOR OUR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Promoting Life-Saving Stem Cell Research - H.R. 3/S.5
This research bill increases the number of lines of stem cells that are eligible to be used in federally-funded research. The bill authorizes Health and Human Services (HHS) to support research involving embryonic stem cells meeting certain criteria, regardless of the date on which the stem cells were derived from an embryo. The bill only authorizes the use of stem cell lines generated from embryos that would otherwise be discarded by fertility clinics.
Status: Passed January 11, 2007
Final version passed by the House on June 7, 2007
The President vetoed this bill on June 20, 2007
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Requiring Medicare to Negotiate Lower Prescription Drug Prices - H.R. 4
This bill repeals the current provision that prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices for those enrolled in Medicare prescription drug plans and instead requires the Secretary to conduct such negotiations.
Status: Passed January 12, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Cutting Interest Rates on Student Loans - H.R. 5
This bill makes college more accessible and affordable by cutting the interest rates on subsidized student loans in half – from the current 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. This significantly cuts the student debt burden of about 5 million students.
Status: Passed January 17, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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Methamphetamine Remediation Research Act, H.R. 365
This legislation will protect innocent families against the after-effects of methamphetamine production in their neighborhoods by funding meth lab recovery and remediation.
Status: Passed February 7, 2007
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Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act - H.R. 1227
This legislation addresses the housing needs of the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and is the first of several bills that the House will consider to deal with the unmet needs of the people of the Gulf Coast.
Status: Passed March 21, 2007
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Genetic Nondiscrimination Act – H.R. 493
This legislation will protect personal genetic information from discriminatory use by health insurers and employers.
Status: Passed April 25, 2007
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Improving Head Start Act – H.R. 1429
This legislation will help more children arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed by improving program quality and expanding access to more children.
Status: Passed May 2, 2007
Final conference report approved November 14, 2007
Signed into law by the President on December 12, 2007
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Hate Crimes Prevention Act – H.R. 1592
This legislation will provide new resources to help state and local law enforcement agencies prevent and prosecute hate crimes, and closes gaps in current federal hate crimes law.
Status: Passed May 3, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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COPS Improvement Act of 2007 - H.R. 1700
This legislation will provide much needed support to local law enforcement agencies for their community oriented policing (COPS) efforts. This legislation is especially important as local law enforcement agencies struggle with funding gaps to keep officers on the streets.
Status: Passed May 15, 2007
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Child Labor Protection Act of 2007 - H.R. 2637
This legislation would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act by increasing penalties for those who violate child labor provisions. The Fair Labor Standards Act, enacted in 1938, prohibits businesses from employing minors in “oppressive child labor." If businesses violate these laws, they can be fined by the Department of Labor.
Status: Passed June 12, 2007
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National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Act - H.R. 2640
This legislation enforces the provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act, and is designed to make the NICS work better by ensuring it has the appropriate records. It requires the transmittal of federal and state records to NICS, and authorizes grants to states over the next three years.
Status: Passed June 13, 2007
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The College Cost Reduction and Access Act - H.R. 2669
This legislation provides the single largest increase in college aid since the GI bill in 1944. The Democratic-led Congress is committed to growing and strengthening America’s middle class, and will ensure that college is affordable for every qualified student who wants to attend. This legislation both expands educational opportunities for our nation’s young people, and is an investment in our workforce that will continue our economic leadership in the world.
Status: Passed July 11, 2007
On September 7, the House passed the final House-Senate agreement
On September 27, this bill was signed into law by the President
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Section 8 Voucher Reform Act - H.R. 1851
The legislation will change Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Section 8 public housing programs - expanding rental assistance opportunities, improving program efficiency, and encouraging family self-sufficiency. The bill expands the number of families receiving vouchers by 20,000 a year for each of the next five years and ensures the program works effectively for the nation’s low income working families with children, elderly and disabled.
Status: Passed July 12, 2007
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The Rural Housing and Economic Development Act of 2007 - H.R. 1982
This bill would improve the quality of life by providing resources to address substandard housing in rural America. It authorizes $30 million for the Rural Housing and Economic Development (RHED) program for fiscal year 2008, and $40 million for Fiscal Years 2009 through 2013. This program increases and improves capacity building at the state and local level for rural housing and economic development and supports innovative housing and economic development activities in these areas.
Status: Passed July 16, 2007
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Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act - H.R. 2419
This legislation begins to reform farm policy while investing in energy independence, supporting conservation, strengthening nutrition assistance, and recognizing the importance of specialty crops.
Status: Passed July 27, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program - H.R. 976
This bill will bring health coverage to approximately ten million children in need – preserving coverage for all 6.6 million children currently covered by CHIP, and reaching millions more low-income, uninsured American children in the next five years.
Status: Passed August 1, 2007
Passed final House-Senate agreement On September 25, 2007
The President vetoed on October 3, 2007
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Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Reauthorization Act of 2007 - H.R. 2786
This legislation reauthorizes the Native American Housing Assistance Self Determination Act of 1996 for five years and amends the law to address housing needs of Native Americans. The bill clarifies rules and regulations and makes it easier for tribes to attain affordable housing.
Status: Passed September 6, 2007
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The Expanding Homeownership Act of 2007 - H.R. 1852
This bill will revitalize the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which was established to provide a reliable source of affordable mortgage loans for first-time homebuyers. The bill will enable the FHA to serve more subprime borrowers at affordable rates and terms, to attract borrowers that have turned to predatory loans in recent years, and to offer refinancing to homeowners struggling to meet their mortgage payments in the midst of the current turbulent mortgage markets.
Status: Passed September 18, 2007
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The Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act - H.R. 2881
This legislation would modernize the nation's aging air traffic control system, dedicating an increase in the aviation fuel taxes to pay for these improvements. It would modernize airports to reduce flight delays, and protect consumers by reducing over-scheduling and improving the system to address complaints.
Status: Passed September 20, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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The Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act - H.R. 2693
This legislation responds to the appearance of a fatal and irreversible disease called bronchiolitis obliterans that appeared among a group of workers in a popcorn plant in 2000. The disease, which has come to be known as “popcorn lung,” is connected to diacetyl, a chemical used in artificial butter flavoring that the workers were exposed to, according to the National Institute for Occupations Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Status: Passed September 26, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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The Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007 - H.R. 3121
This legislation reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years, through FY 2013 (the current authorization for NFIP expires on September 30, 2008). It also provides for reforms to the NFIP, improves flood mapping, and expands the NFIP to provide for multiple peril coverage. Following are highlights of some of the bill’s provisions.
Status: Passed September 27, 2007
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Small Business Investment Expansion - H.R. 3567
This bill will help business owners, particularly veterans and women, to obtain investment capital to start or grow their small businesses
Status: Passed September 27, 2007
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Housing Tax Relief - H.R. 3648
Under current law, when a family faces mortgage foreclosure, any debt forgiven or renegotiation is considered income for tax purposes, creating a large tax bill. Families dealing with the pain of foreclosure should not have the double burden of a large tax bill for terminating their mortgage through no fault of their own.
Status: Passed October 4, 2007
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Child Safety Bills
The House passed four bills that are designed to improve child safety – better ensuring that the products that children use are completely safe and reliable.
Status: Passed October 9, 2007
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National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act - H.R. 2895
This bill will establish a national affordable housing trust fund to build or preserve 1.5 million homes or apartments over the next 10 years, without increasing government spending or the federal deficit. The bill will initially allocate between $800 million and $1 billion annually directly to states and local communities, targeting funds for the construction of affordable housing and for lower income families facing the greatest housing affordability challenges.
Status: Passed October 10, 2007
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Railroad Safety - H.R. 2095
The bill reauthorizes and renames Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”) and takes a variety of steps to strengthen rail safety including updating the limits on rail workers' hours of service to reduce fatigue-related accidents, nearly doubling the number of safety inspectors, requiring new safety technologies on trains, and upgrading safety at rail tracks and crossings.
Status: Passed October 17, 2007
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The Homeowners’ Defense Act of 2007 - H.R. 3355
This bill is designed to address the growing crisis in the availability and affordability of homeowners’ insurance. The legislation focuses on stabilizing the catastrophe insurance market by expanding private industry’s capacity to cover natural disasters and helping states to better manage risk. Following are highlights of the bill’s provisions.
Status: Passed November 8, 2007
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Online Child Protection
During the week of November 12, the House passed five bills to crack down on online predators and help make the internet safe for children. These bills are:

H.R. 3845 - PROTECT Our Children Act
H.R. 719 - Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act
H.R. 4120 - Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act
H.R. 4134 – Internet Crime Prevention Education Program Act
H.R. 4136 - Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography Act
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Transportation-HUD Appropriations - H.R. 3074
The Transportation and Housing conference report addresses the important challenges of keeping our transportation system safe and strong, ensuring that every American has adequate shelter, and doing so in a way that strengthens the economy and is environmentally responsible.
Status: Final conference report passed November 14, 2007
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Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending - H.R. 3915
The bill responds to the subprime mortgage crisis by instituting much needed reform to prevent these bad loans from being made in the first place.
Status: Passed November 15, 2007
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Labor, Health, and Human Services & Veterans Appropriations - H.R. 3043
This bill provides the largest increase for veterans in history, rejects the President’s cuts to needed resources for health care, education, job training, and home heating assistance, and makes critical investments in our future. The President has approved 27 previous appropriations bills that were combined in this fashion by Republican congresses.
Status: Passed November 6, 2007
Vetoed by the President November 13, 2007
The House fell two votes short of overriding the President's veto on November 15, 2007
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PROTECTING OUR PLANET

Repealing Big Oil Subsidies/Investing in Renewable Fuels - H.R. 6
This bill invests in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency by repealing billions in subsidies given to big oil companies that are raking in record profits.
Status: Passed January 18, 2007
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Reauthorizing Sewer Overflow Control Grants - H.R. 569
This bill authorizes $1.5 billion in grants to local communities over the next five years to construct treatment works to deal with sewer overflows that often occur after heavy rainfalls. This bill is crucial because sewer overflows represent a major public health hazard.
Status: Passed March 7, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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Reauthorizing Pilot Program for Increasing Useable Water Supply - H.R. 700
This bill authorizes $125 million to fund projects that increase usable water supply by encouraging innovation in water reclamation, reuse and conservation.
Status: Passed March 8, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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Reauthorizing Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund - H.R. 720
The Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund is a vital program for state and local governments that addresses critical water infrastructure needs. This bill authorizes a total of $14 billion for the fund over the next four years, ensures clean water and fosters economic development in local communities by helping pay for building and improving wastewater treatment facilities.
Status: Passed March 9, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Advanced Fuels Infrastructure R&D Act - H.R. 547
This legislation will help make alternative biofuels more quickly and affordably, and assists retailers in the transition to clean diesel fuels.
Status: Passed February 17, 2007
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Water Resources Development Act of 2007 - H.R. 1495
This legislation authorizes several projects and studies for the United States Army Corps of Engineers to carry out its major missions of flood control to protect our lives and livelihoods, viable navigation corridors for the movement of goods and services, and ecosystem restoration projects to improve the health of our nation’s environment.
Status: Passed April 19, 2007
Final version passed by the House on August 1, 2007
Vetoed on November 2, 2007
Veto Overridden by the House on November 6, 2007
Veto Overridden by the Senate on November 8, 2007
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Interior-Environment Appropriations - H.R. 2643
This legislation fully funds the Clean Water Fund that the President proposed cutting by 37 percent, makes improving our national parks, national wildlife refuges, and national forests a key priority, and boosts basic research on climate change by 53 percent.
Status: Passed June 27, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Energy Independence and Security Act
This legislation will move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, develop innovative new technologies, reduce carbon emissions, create green jobs, protect consumers, increase clean renewable energy production, and modernize our energy infrastructure.
Status: Passed August 4, 2007
Final version passed by the House on December 18, 2007
The President signed this bill into law on December 19, 2007
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Renewable Energy - H. Con. Res. 25
This Sense of the Congress resolution expresses that the goal of the U.S. is that America’s farms, forests, and ranches provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in America from renewable resources by 2025, while continuing to produce safe, abundant, and affordable food, feed, and fiber. The 110th Congress is taking America in a New Direction, working to strengthen our energy security by reducing American dependence on foreign oil.
Status: Passed October 15, 2007
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Energy & Science Bills
These three bills promote industrial energy efficiency and energy storage technologies, and support the goals and ideals of National Science Week.
Status: Passed October 22, 2007
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RESTORING ACCOUNTABILITY

Honest Leadership - H.Res. 6
To clean up Washington and sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, House Democrats started by banning travel and gifts from lobbyists, requiring full transparency to end the abuse of special interest earmarks, banning travel on corporate jets, shutting down the K Street project, reinstating the strict rules of pay-as-you-go budgeting, and ending the abusive processes that have destroyed democracy in the House of Representatives. These measures are the first steps to ensure that this Congress upholds the highest ethical standards.
Status: Passed January 5, 2007
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Pension Forfeiture Act - H.R. 476
This legislation requires that Members convicted of certain federal offenses forfeit their congressional pension rights.
Status: Passed January 23, 2007

The Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 2007 - H.R. 1309
This bill amends the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in a dozen substantive provisions to provide for more timely disclosure of government documents, including restoring the presumption of disclosure to FOIA, helping FOIA requesters obtain timely responses, improving transparency in agency compliance with FOIA, providing an alternative to litigation, and providing accountability for FOIA decisions.
Status: Passed March 14, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 - H.R. 1255
Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential records are supposed to be released to historians and the public 12 years after the end of a presidential administration. In 2001, President George W. Bush issued an executive order which gave current and former presidents and vice presidents broad authority to withhold presidential records or delay their release indefinitely. The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 nullifies the Bush executive order and establishes procedures to ensure the timely release of presidential records.
Status: Passed March 14, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2007 - H.R. 1254
This bill requires the disclosure of donors to Presidential libraries. Presidential libraries are built using private funds raised by an organization or foundation working on behalf of the president. Under current law, donations for the presidential library can be unlimited in size and are not required to be disclosed. The bill would require that all organizations established for the purpose of raising funds for presidential libraries or their related facilities report on a quarterly basis all contributions of $200 or more.
Status: Passed March 14, 2007
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Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007 - H.R. 985
This bill strengthens protections for federal whistleblowers to prevent retaliation against those who report wrongdoing, waste, fraud, or abuse to authorities.
Status: Passed March 14, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Accountability in Contracting Act - H.R. 1362
This bill changes federal acquisition law to require agencies to limit the use of abuse-prone contracts, to increase transparency and accountability in federal contracting, and to protect the integrity of the acquisition workforce.
Status: Passed March 15, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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Interim Appointment of U.S. Attorneys – H.R. 580
This legislation will help better ensure the independence of U.S. Attorneys – by repealing a provision in a 2006 statute that grants the Attorney General the authority to make indefinite interim appointments of U.S. Attorneys, who can then serve indefinitely without Senate confirmation.
Status: Passed March 26, 2007
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Taxpayer Protection Act - H.R. 1677
This legislation increases IRS outreach to provide taxpayers with stronger protections from identity theft and tax fraud. The bill simplifies tax filing requirements, strengthens outreach so people know they are entitled to tax refunds or payments under the Earned Income Tax Credit, and it increases taxpayer protections from “predatory” providers.
Status: Passed April 17, 2007
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RECOVER Act – H.R. 1361
This legislation overhauls the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Disaster Assistance Program. In response to SBA’s disastrous performance after the 2005 Gulf State hurricanes, this bill provides numerous provisions to improve and strengthen the SBA disaster assistance program.
Status: Passed April 18, 2007
The President opposes in its current form
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D.C. Voting Rights Act – H.R. 1905
This legislation will secure voting rights in the House for the District of Columbia, permanently expanding the U.S. House of Representatives from 435 to 437 seats. This provides a vote to the District of Columbia and a new, at-large seat through the 112th Congress to the state next entitled to increase its congressional representation (which, according to the Census, is Utah).
Status: Passed April 19, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
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Shareholder Vote on Executive Compensation Act – H.R. 1257
This bill requires that public companies ensure that shareholders have an annual nonbinding vote on their company’s executive compensation plans. It also requires a nonbinding advisory vote if the company awards a new golden parachute package while simultaneously negotiating the purchase or sale of the company.
Status: Passed April 20, 2007
The Administration opposes in its current form
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Student Loan Sunshine Act - H.R. 890
In light of mounting evidence of unethical practices in the student loan industry, this legislation cleans up the relationships between student lenders and colleges.
Status: Passed May 9, 2007
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Honest Leadership and Open Government Act – H.R. 2316/S.1
This legislation ends the tight-knit relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers. This is a tough bill that ends the culture of corruption, and restores accountability in Washington, ending the tight-knit relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers and taking another major step toward making the 110th Congress the most open, honest Congress in history. Status: Passed May 24, 2007
Final version passed the House on July 31, 2007
Signed into law by the President on September 14, 2007
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The Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act – S. 214
This bill reinstates the Senate’s role in the U.S. Attorney confirmation process. It is designed to help better ensure the independence of U.S. Attorneys – by repealing a provision in a 2006 statute that grants the Attorney General the authority to make indefinite interim appointments of U.S. Attorneys, who can then serve indefinitely without Senate confirmation.
Status: Passed May 22, 2007
Signed into law by the President on June 14, 2007
Learn more>>

The Federal Housing Finance Reform Act – H.R. 1427
This legislation will overhaul the regulatory oversight of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks, and create a new, independent regulator with broad powers analogous to current banking regulators. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises, meaning they are both created and chartered by Congress in addition to being private, profit-seeking businesses. It also creates a non-taxpayer financed affordable housing fund, which will dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars for the construction, maintenance and preservation of affordable housing, with the first year of the fund to be dedicated to the hurricane stricken areas of the Gulf Coast, and billions of dollars over the next five years for affordable housing nationwide.
Status: Passed May 22, 2007
Learn more>>

The Lobbying Transparency Act – H.R. 2317
This bill requiring lobbyists who “bundle,” or collect campaign checks for Members of Congress, to meet strict reporting and disclosure guidelines.
Status: Passed May 24, 2007
Learn more>>

Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act - H.R. 1281
This bill will prohibit and punish deceptive practices that aim to keep voters away from the polls on Election Day. This bill protects every American citizen’s right to vote by making voter deception, for the first time, a crime.
Status: Passed June 25, 2007
Learn more>

The Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 - H.R. 2900
This legislation reauthorizes the prescription drug user fee for five years and increases the fee in order to allow the FDA to approve life-saving drugs more quickly. The bill makes the most sweeping safety and regulatory changes to the agency in years, adding new surveillance and safety requirements for drugs after they have been approved and marketed.
Status: Passed July 11, 2007
Learn more>>

FDIC Enforcement Enhancement Act - H.R. 2547
To protect consumers nationwide, this legislation will impose penalties on companies that falsely claim to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). This bill protects the integrity and the reputation of the FDIC as well as the millions of consumers that place their trust in the financial regulatory institutions.
Status: Passed July 16, 2007
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Passport Backlog Reduction Act of 2007 - S. 966
The new passport requirements have triggered an enormous passport backlog, with about 3 million pending passport applications that have yet to be processed. This delay has forced Americans to cancel business, leisure trips, and trips for study abroad. This legislation helps eliminate the backlog that is plaguing American travelers. It waives salary restrictions and allows the Department of State to bring back former employees to assist in passport-related duties.
Status: Passed July 16, 2007
Signed into the law by the President on July 30, 2007
Learn more>>

Campaign Expenditure Transparency Act - H.R. 2630
This legislation raises the bar on the ethical standards of Members of Congress by ending the practice of allowing federal office holders and candidates to employ spouses in their campaign. It would also require the disclosure of all other immediate family members who are employed by a candidate’s campaign. In addition, this bill would ban the egregious practice involving the spouse of an elected official earning commissions for fundraising activity. In those situations, the candidate or elected official personally pockets a percentage of all campaign funds raised by their spouse.
Status: Passed July 23, 2007
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Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - H.R. 2831
This legislation rectifies the recent Supreme Court decision that makes it harder for workers to pursue pay discrimination claims. The bill simply restores the longstanding interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act – that each paycheck that results from a discriminatory decision is itself a discriminatory act that resets the clock on the 180-day period within which a worker must file.
Status: Passed July 31, 2007
The President has threatened to veto
Learn more>>

Honest Leadership, Open Government Act - S. 1
This is tough legislation designed to end the culture of corruption and restore accountability in Washington. The bill ends the tight-knit relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers and takes another major step toward making the 110th Congress the most open, honest Congress in history. This legislation will bring unprecedented transparency to lobbyists’ activities and is another major step to change the way business is done in Washington.
Status: Passed July 31, 2007
Signed into the law by the President on September 15, 2007
Learn more>>

Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act - H.R. 180
In continuing efforts to address the genocide and humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the House passed legislation that will require the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a list of companies whose business activities in Sudan directly support the genocidal practices of the regime in Khartoum.
Status: Passed July 31, 2007
Learn more>>

Supporting Democracy in Burma - H. Con. Res. 200
This bill condemns the Violent Suppression of Buddhist Monks and Other Peaceful Demonstrators in Burma, which denounces the violence and human rights violations in Burma and calls for the immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Status: Passed October 2, 2007
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The Improving Government Accountability Act - H.R. 928
This bill contains a number of provisions to enhance the effectiveness and independence of Inspectors General. It also contains provisions to enhance the accountability of the Inspector General system overall.
Status: Passed October 3, 2007
Learn more>>

Ending Private Tax Collection - H.R. 3056
This bill was passed to repeal the use of private debt collection companies to collect federal income taxes, delay the application of an onerous three percent withholding requirement on government payments, and discourage individuals who renounce their U.S. citizenship to avoid paying taxes.
Status: Passed October 10, 2007
Learn more>>

Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 - H.R. 2102
The bill would provide journalists with a qualified privilege as to sources and information, while at the same time, recognizing the need for effective law enforcement and robust national security. Freedom of the press is fundamental to our democracy and is essential to protecting the public's right to know. Without a federal media shield law to protect the confidential sources of journalists, freedom of the press is threatened.
Status: Passed October 16, 2007
Learn more>>

Combating Human Trafficking - H.R. 3887
The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act will step up U.S. diplomatic efforts to combat the scourge of human trafficking worldwide. This legislation addresses the fundamental right of every human being to live in freedom and safety. It requires a comprehensive analysis of trafficking data to yield new information about where victims are going and how to free them. It also provides help for countries to inspect locations where forced labor occurs, to register vulnerable populations and to provide more protection to foreign workers. It ensures that U.S. assistance programs are both transparent and effective, and it urges the Administration to work with other countries to reach agreements between labor exporters and labor importers so that vulnerable workers have more, rather than less protection.
Status: Passed December 4, 2007
Learn more>>

Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 - S.888
This bill would close a legal loophole that prevents the United States Department of Justice from prosecuting people in our country who have committed genocide abroad. Under current law, the United States cannot prosecute foreign nationals suspected of genocide that are living in our country. The Justice Department has identified individuals who had an active role in the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides living in the United States under false pretenses. They are unable to interview or charge any of these individuals because they lack jurisdictional rights.
Status: Passed December 5, 2007

Nancy Pelosi is a wore out old hide.

Posted by Dan5 on December 29, 2007 at 04:56 AM
Actually, Pelosi would make a fine president. Too bad "it isn't her turn." Of course, if the Democratic convention becomes deadlocked, we could nominate her from the floor, just like Frosty plans to nominate Allen the racist from the floor of the Reptile convention.

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 04:42 AM.....You are grabbing at straws in the wind again, Frosty, That Rovian plant about Edwards and a worker has been throughly debunked. If perpetuating lies is the best you can do, WE WIN!!!

Posted by goodfoe on December 29, 2007 at 04:52 AM

It was Hillary's plant and nothing has been debunked, other than Edwards lawyer saying it isn't true. How did you live so long being so stupid?

{{{johnboy}}} not dancing yet...too early, everyone else is still sleeping.

Good morning, everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is one for rjsnj:

NJ considers taking elections away from attorney general

Assemblyman Bill Baroni said he finds it amazing _ a Democratic bill that makes him recall Kathleen Harris, a villain to most Democrats.

Harris was the Florida secretary of state in 2000 who certified George W. Bush as the Sunshine State's presidential victor, a move that gave him enough electoral votes to win the national election once the U.S. Supreme Court rejected legal challenges.

The plan that astounds Baroni and reminds him of Harris? Transferring the division that runs New Jersey's elections from the attorney general to the secretary of state.

ACLU: Ohio Voting Switch May Be Illegal

The American Civil Liberties Union urged the elections board in the state's most populous county on Thursday not to make a switch to a new voting system for the state's March presidential primary, warning that the move could violate state law.

Actually, Pelosi would make a fine president. Too bad "it isn't her turn." Of course, if the Democratic convention becomes deadlocked, we could nominate her from the floor, just like Frosty plans to nominate Allen the racist from the floor of the Reptile convention.

Posted by goodfoe on December 29, 2007 at 05:06 AM

Oh, I shall pray that you are correct.

How did you live so long being so stupid?

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 05:09 AM....I did not live a long time by being stupid. I lived a long time by being very alert, always in code red. I have a few scars but I'm still alive.....

We used to have a 2000 word maximum here, now we have morons like Posted by Big_Yellow_Weiner_ posting endless drivel that no one will read. Please email our moderator about this abuse of our blog.

Know it all trolls, always running their yapper.

Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain... only straw.
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?
Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.

Posted by Dan5 on December 29, 2007 at 05:01 AM

You defend Chicken-hawks like Cheney, perverts like Craig and Foley, idiots like Delay, liars like Gonzo... I suppose we should not be surprised now that you defend the Pagan cult, Mormons, according to the Baptist Convention. Anything goes in the GOP.

Don't call me a bigot for calling out the recently racist, polygamist group called Mormons, who hide in a "church." David Koresh had a church too. the Baptist Convention called them a cult too. I don't hate them. They can have a cult. I just don't think a cult follower should live in the White House. They are better off in Utah and NV.

Wizard of Oz: Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma.

-------------------------------------------------
Scarecrow: The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side. Oh joy! Rapture! I got a brain! How can I ever thank you enough?
Wizard of Oz: You can't.

How did you live so long being so stupid?

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 05:09 AM....I did not live a long time by being stupid. I lived a long time by being very alert, always in code red. I have a few scars but I'm still alive.....

Posted by goodfoe on December 29, 2007 at 05:14 AM

I believe you lived so long in spite of being stupid. That happens. It won't be much longer though the way you talk. So, in case I don't see ya before ya go - see ya - bye.

....Posted by Prof*_McBurd on December 29, 2007 at 05:17 Very funny!....She does not need them....but that was funny......

Election Computers Stolen in Tenn.

Pelosi is beautiful and smart. No wonder the trolls are so jealous.
Must I post her accomplishments again?

Posted by FrostyTheMagnificent* on December 29, 2007 at 05:26 AM....I see you "Daddy", old Bushwacker is going to veto the defense bill. He is not supporting the troops.

Those sound like friendly voices that you have running around in your head, do you ever talk to Rev.Jim Jones?

Posted by Prof*_McBurd on December 29, 2007 at 05:25 AM

You trolls remind me of simple lines from long time enjoyed childrens classics.

Nope, can't say that I do talk to Rev. Jones. Probably never will.

I do hear the carpenter up and abount, so I think I shall go greet him in my most charming wife way. He's wonderful to talk to. ;)

Enjoy the day, everyone.

John 14:1-3
[Jesus said,] "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

David Koresh had a church too.

Posted by Big_Yellow_Dog on December 29, 2007 at 05:23 AM

I don't normally respond to big yellow turds posts but yeah, David Koresh had a church until Clinton and Janet Reno burned it down killing about 80 children.

What was that all about and what did it accomplish.

And why was Janet Reno ever the Attorney General of the United States other than being Hillary's lesbo bitch?

Frosty fires up other computers to get some oral support.
How pathetic is he to talk to himself? Make believe Repugs. HA!
No wonder he still supports Cheney, and gets his news from Rush.

I think Frosty knows that Ann Coulter is really a man. Man Coulter really turns Frosty on. (Theme from Madame Butterfly plays.)

Posted by Prof*_McBurd on December 29, 2007 at 05:29 AM.....Completely out of context McBurd, as usual, you try to spin the truth and succeed only in turning it into something ugly that comes back to bite you in your own ass!

Koresh was a pedophile like Foley... what did you expect?
He could've come out peacefully. He didn't want to go to jail for molesting all those kids. Mormons have leaders much like Koresh.

Janet Reno had Republican support, moron. Strong woman really get under your skin, don't they, little he-man?

Esmerelda, rather quoting scripture or the wizard of OZ has become nearly as nutty as the rest of them.

Posted by Dan5 on December 29, 2007 at 05:39 AM
We are the oppressed, the downtrodden, the Christian and African American middle class who have been raped by the Republican Party and GW. Do you think we are going to vote against ourselves? Silly boy~

It's America... Frosty is free to vote for a cult follower for the WH.
I think the Christians will write-in jimmy buffet before voting for Romney. Maybe Romney will open the door for Tom Cruise and Johovas Witnesses?

whether not rather

Frosty digs for some Right-wing lies from Man Coulter.
(He plays "The Crying Game" on his cassette player.)

Enough for me. Goodnite Dan and Birdman.

Good nite spaced out nutballs.

Adios wetbacks

we cool mofos

Curly and Moe are here, where is Larry? Oh, there he is, in the corner! Quick! Put up the privacy screen so the adults can't see what he is doing!

Moe just left the building. I wish he had taken Larry with him.

Thats funny, you post like an old white bigot from Texas.

Posted by Dan5 on December 29, 2007 at 05:57 AM

If I'm an old, white bigot from Texas, What does that make you?

Posted by goodfoe on December 29, 2007 at 06:09 AM

Answer: It means that you are a name calling Republican hypocrite!

Every thing that George Bush and his power crazed, money hungry greedy Republican criminal cronies have attempted to do is designed to punish working Americans, harm out senor citizens and destroy the labor unions in an attempt to create a permanent Republican Majority of criminal theives who would be able to go on looting the taxpayers money. To the criminal thieves of the Republican Party, I have news for you: your arithmetic isn't very good, there are more of us than there are of you. And when we fully regain control of our government, you carpet baggers will be tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail, if you're lucky!

Bush is going to veto the defense bill, he is not supporting the troops!

The trolls that come in here and post their garbage like to denigrate anyone they can. That way, they fell superior. By denigrating others, they think "There is somebody lower on the totem pole than them." A good example of this is Frosty who always and repeatedly refers to African Americans as "Negroes"...He feels if he can denigrate them, he is superior to them. These trolls are a sad, sick bunch of losers.

Posted by GeorgeB on December 29, 2007 at 06:53 AM
That is a good post and what you say has a lot of merit. We don't day "Irish American" or "German American" that much. What I was referring to was Frosty's use of the term "Negroes"....That is just s a short step of the way from the use of the "N" word which is what Frosty is implying. Old time southerners used to use the term "Negras" which was the same thing, one step away from the "N" word. It would be easier, when it is necessary to make such a distinction, to say white Americans or black Americans. But what would you call native Americans, Red Americans? I think that the term African American is divisive, but I refuse to call them Negroes!

I would like to continue this intellectual, scintillating conversation further, but the boss lady is ready to go out to breakfast....Later

trolls hang out in men's restrooms.

trolls drink out of restroom toilets.

good morning. i see the grill is thick with grease and burnt things from last night's activity...must douse it with orange stuff and take the paint scraper to it...

oh guess what? george the moron bush is now a climate change believer...seven years too late but at least he is mildly conscious on this topic:

from msnbc:

Bush finally warms to warming
At end of term, in search of a greener legacy, president highlights warming

presidummie wakes up from opiate sleep, looks around and says OH SHIT!

Morning gregg,

It's 22 here and cloudy.

The presidummie just makes himself look more like a registered moron every day.

The presidummies moron daughter was on tv the other day pushing her stupid book. stupid is as stupid does.

back in the day as they say hippies were moving to the hills and a lot of them moved to the hills of vermont...and so we have a somewhat quixotic but all the same wonderful little wanted poster being considered in the state of maple syrup, the green mountains and amazing fall foilage...

Activists in Vermont town want Bush, Cheney subject to arrest

MONTPELIER, Vermont (AP) -- President Bush may soon have a new reason to avoid left-leaning Vermont: In one town, activists want him subject to arrest for war crimes.

A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on a town meeting agenda in March that would make Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney subject to arrest and indictment if they visit the southeastern Vermont community.

"This petition is as radical as the Declaration of Independence, and it draws on that tradition in claiming a universal jurisdiction when governments fail to do what they're supposed to do," said Kurt Daims, 54, a retired machinist leading the drive.

As president, Bush has visited every state except Vermont.

The town meeting, an annual exercise in which residents gather to vote on everything from fire department budgets to municipal policy, requires about 1,000 signatures to place a binding item on the agenda.

The measure asks: "Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictment for consideration by other municipalities?"

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. The press office did not immediately respond to an e-mail...

it's funny that bush keeps asking all sorts of historians and clergy and so forth about his pathetic legacy and why people dislike him so much...here are a few reasons:

-you stole the presidency in 00 instead of letting the vote count go on.
-you were asleep at the wheel when the attacks on the world trade towers happened off mumbling about star wars and such.
-you started a war that was unnecessary and will leave the country in debt and with a even bigger problem that when saddam ruled.
-you tried to destroy social security.
-you laughed about weapons of mass destruction not being found as soldiers and innocents were dying.
-you denied your responsibility to take action on any environmental front.
-you supported the politicization of religion and the insertion of religion into politics.
-you inserted politics into scientific research.
-you were asleep at the switch when katrina hit and then lied about it.
-you limited stem cell research while almost every family in the country had a member who might be helped by it.

these are a few of our unfavorite things....hope it helps you understand why you are and always will be hated.

john, i thought the girls were going to work in inner city schools and take vows of chastity...how did that work out?

the pelicans are providing much fun and games this election season. big love is now attacking saint mccain for being weak on tax cutting and immigration...huckster is calling catholics devil worshipers, ronald mccdonald paul is getting support from nazi groups and ghouliani is probably gonna be arrested for turnstile jumping in the subway system...oh and i forgot....fred is still dead....

i am loving this shit!

gregg,

The girls most likely hate the average American just like their father. jenna's book will soon be on the "take one it's free" rack at Barnes and Noble. If she is anything like her father, the book will be gibberish.

now they are arguing about how bhutto actually died. and while the musharraf folks want to pin the tail on the terrorists the bhutto people want to pin in on musharaf...are there no autopsies and investigations in pakistan that have credibility... interesting indeed and of course another government bush has us up to asses in bed with....

john, i think the spears mom should send laura a few copies of her christian parenting book...and maybe one for babs so she can properly cane that moron spawn of hers once he is out of office and back chasing the help around the wet bar....

Can you believe that the moron that was taking limpball's place last week is still spewing lies about Clinton? He said that the economy was tanking at the end of Clinton's term in 2000 and that king bush the first had the economy on track when he left office before Clinton took over.

The political hacks are still spewing the lies about the economy. I wonder what planet they inhabit.

gregg,

You are right. Wasn't Pakistan fairly stable until bush and cheney inserted their buddy bin laden into western Pakistan?

What country are they going to screw up next? There aren't many left that they haven't trashed for Jesus and Democracy.

gregg,

Do you think bush will finally blame it all on demon rum and soon check into rehab?

john, yes i forgot to add to my list "overseeing the deregulation of the banking and loan industry" which has of course brought us to the brink of a serious recession.

gregg, That pretty much sums it up. I like your take on the repuke candidates too.

john, good chance he will claim to be possessed instead and will ask permission from pat robertson to have the pope send the vatican's top exorcist to crawfish to cleanse him....then in 2009 he will re-emerge in mobile alabama operating his own church/used car lot under the name "saint george of the pintos...and we don't mean beans folks!!"...

here is an excerpt from salon that might be on interest. time to let the dog take me for a walk:

The year in the environment

One step up, one step back was the refrain in news about global warming, automobiles and biodiversity in 2007.

By Katharine Mieszkowski

Dec. 29, 2007 | NOBEL WARNING

This year, Al Gore, the Man Who Was Almost President, received a stunning vindication from the Nobel Committee for his Paul Revere campaign about global warming. "The Earth has a fever, and the fever is rising," Gore said in his Nobel lecture in Oslo, Norway, in December as he accepted the Peace Prize, which he shared with the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "The experts have told us it is not a passing affliction that will heal by itself. We asked for a second opinion -- and a third -- and a fourth -- and the consistent conclusion, restated with increasing distress, is that something basic is wrong. We are what is wrong, and we must make it right."

In 2007, even the United States stopped asking for a second opinion. The Bush administration now agrees that global warming is a threat. But all the plaudits heaped on Gore couldn't move the United States to, in Gore's words, "make it right." The United States remains the only industrialized nation not to endorse the goals of the Kyoto Protocol; Australia, the other big holdout, belatedly ratified the treaty's goals in December. Not coincidentally, Australia has recently been plagued by serious drought. But the United States, where the governor of drought-ridden Georgia held a prayer vigil in November in hopes of inspiring rain, was still not swayed. At the international climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, this December, the Bush administration refused to agree to any mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, giving developing giant China cover to avoid any such restrictions itself.

Yet there are tantalizing signs that the American people are not waiting for the Bush administration to leave power to start taking steps to address the "planetary emergency" that Gore warns about. A Senate committee passed the first legislation that would impose mandatory limits on greenhouse gases. Although the bill may not make it to the president's desk, it's a sign that meaningful climate legislation is on the horizon. In the meantime, action is occurring at state and local levels. To date, some 725 U.S. mayors, representing 25 percent of the U.S. population, have signed a pledge to reduce greenhouse gases by 2012. In August, Illinois became the 26th state to require that some of the state's electricity come from renewable sources. And in October, Kansas became the first state to refuse a permit for a new coal-fired power plant because of the threat it would pose to public health and the atmosphere.

Frustration abounds in the scientific community. The IPCC's latest dire report, released in November, made bleaker projections than ever, yet climate scientists fear that the world's simply not heeding their alarm. More than 200 scientists were so fed up that in December they signed a petition calling for the world to take drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050. In his Nobel lecture in Oslo, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, warned that unchecked warming could bring massive ice melting in Greenland and disappearing rainfall in many tropical areas. Yet he reminded the world that the worst threats can still be ameliorated: "The implications of these changes, if they were to occur, would be grave and disastrous," he said. "However, it is within the reach of human society to meet these threats." It looks like the United States -- and the world -- will have to wait for the next American president to begin to meet them...

Koresh was a pedophile like Foley... what did you expect?
He could've come out peacefully. He didn't want to go to jail for molesting all those kids. Mormons have leaders much like Koresh.

Posted by Big_Yellow_Dog on December 29, 2007 at 05:43 AM

big Yellow Dog, It always disgusted me, that Koresh HID behind the skirts of women and children when he was under attack! He refused to follow the Real men of the Alamo and send them out ! He is to blame for the deaths, not Reno like Repugs would like us to believe. another small man, like most Republicans.

( tee hee, do you notice how Sally is trying to get back on Esme's good side again, even though she called him mentally ill? He is very hard up for friends, as we know, but that is pathetic. )

bbl, Walking the dogs.

Reminder to bush:

You had better walk cheney right away, otherwise he will piss on the White House furniture.

Good morning, Dems! 40 degrees and raining. I won't complain as my last fuel bill was $1,800.00 at $3.09 a gallon.

now they are arguing about how bhutto actually died. and while the musharraf folks want to pin the tail on the terrorists the bhutto people want to pin in on musharaf...are there no autopsies and investigations in pakistan that have credibility... interesting indeed and of course another government bush has us up to asses in bed with....
Posted by gregg on December 29, 2007 at 08:13 AM

gregg, Like we are supposed to believe the word from Musharref on this? When it was undoubtedly his orders that took her out, isn't it just so convenient they found proof that it was suddenly AlQaeda? Bull Crap! And now they do not want Bhutto martyrd, so they are saying she died from a self inflicted head wound, not all the bullets that split her spine like the Dr. the day before said!

These guys are as slimy as Bush and Cheney! Well they had good teachers ! Where is Rove these days? Could he be on call for Pakistan and dirty tricks 101 ?

Bin Laden Killed Bhutto? How Blind Can We Be?

The shorthand being bandied about in the news that al-Qaeda is responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is so sloppy, so lacking in nuance or understanding of the dynamics of Pakistan, and so self-centered in its reference to America's enemy as to be almost laughable.

Several U.S. defense and intelligence experts are quoted today dismissing even the possibility that President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani government forces, or other domestic elements could be involved, a conclusion that flies in the face of the country's history and ignores the obvious beneficiaries.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/12/bin_laden_killed_bhutto_how_bl.html#more

and if it WERE true, why isn't there an uproar about WHY Bin Laden is still happy, healthy and ordered deaths???? Why is Bush such a Failure?

The unflappable Helen Thomas:

When a fire broke out in Vice President Dick Cheney's ceremonial office last week, reporters quipped that someone must be burning the videotapes of the CIA interrogation of two al-Qaida detainees.

The joke was an allusion to the administration's admission that the CIA videotapes had been destroyed. The videotapes reportedly showed the harsh interrogations and waterboarding of the prisoners in secret prisons abroad­.

One has to wonder what other forms of torture U.S. agents shamefully adopted as their own in their unfettered drive to question prisoners.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/helenthomas/index.html/helenthomas/14927212/detail.html

New Open Thread

if a guy tells me he is a Negro or Indian, thats his choice, not mine.
Posted by Dan5 on December 29, 2007 at 07:26 AM

But if a guy tells him he likes Man Coulter, Jeff Gannon, Oxy-Rush, and Senator Brownback... they've got something to talk about. LOL

The GOP... Ghouls, Oddballs, and Perverts.